By: Ray Wu

Have you ever heard of cricket? No, not the insect. I’m talking about the sport. Cricket is a sport that is like baseball. Many people play cricket for fun. Like any other sport, there are professional players and leagues.

What is cricket? Cricket is basically a sport played with a bat and a ball. There are two teams, 11 players each. Like baseball, there is a pitcher that throws a ball at the batter. To score, you need to hit home runs.

24 years ago in Malaysia, 16 nations played during the scorching heat.

“It’s not like in those days we were huge on fitness,” former South Africa batter Gibbs, who played 90 tests and 248 in one-day internationals between 1996 and 2010. “The rest of the athletes taking part were in mint condition to perform at their very best. We had a team of young pups and were all there to enjoy ourselves.”

Runners and swimmers count every single calorie they consume over their salads in the cafeteria at the athletes’ village. Cricketers are very different. They eat ice cream to stay cool and quench their thirst with something stronger in the evening.

“We were able to ‘borrow’ the all-Ireland one-day ranking to qualify,” explained former skipper Allan Rutherford. “I even had the honor of carrying the Northern Irish flag at the opening ceremony. Viv Richards carried Antigua’s, so I was in good company.”

“Gibbs edged one from me and departed for 11. Gordon bowled the other opener Mike Rindel. I got Derek Crookes caught behind, then Andrew Hudson was run out,” Eagleson recalled. “At 23-4, we could scarcely believe it.” McCrum bagged the wicket of Jacques Kallis for 18, and at 57-5, South Africa was on the rack.

As you can see now, cricket is a great sport. It is also very tense. It is disappointing to see cricket say goodbye to the commonwealth games.