Cricket Sparks Grand Parties in Bermuda

No mere athletic contest, a cricket match in Bermuda is a grand event, complete with colour, crowd and calypso. Fans come prepared with hampers full of food and drink.

But despite all the happy distractions, Bermudians follow the games seriously, with an unmatched attention to nuance. The sharp crack of ball against bat, followed by a roar from the stands, echoes across the islands.

British soldiers imported cricket to Bermuda in the 1840s. Like the cricket-loving people of other former Crown colonies, locals adopted the game wholeheartedly.

At least four streets in Bermuda are named in honour of cricket: Fielders Lane, in Smith's Parish, plus Cricket, Grandstand and Bat'n'Ball lanes, in Sandys Parish. In 2007, the neighbouring West Indian islands were honoured to host the quadrennial ICC Cricket World Cup, claimed to be the world's third-largest sporting event after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup.

Like baseball. Cricket looks much like baseball, except that teams have 11 members and the pitcher is called a bowler. He aims at the wicket, a collection of three one-inch stumps (sticks), standing 32 inches high, with a pair of bails (crosspieces) teetering on top.

Balls of cork and string, covered in red or white leather, are stitched at the equator. Bats are flat on one side and humped on the other side for strength.

A batsman in pads and helmet protects his wicket and smacks the ball as far possible. If he can run to the other end of the oval without a fieldsman catching the ball, he scores. An inning has 10 outs, and a match has two innings; but games can go on for days, and scores can reach well into the hundreds.

Cup Match. The local season runs from April to September, highlighted by Cup Match, a two-day national holiday during which Bermuda grinds to a halt for cricket. Technically, the holidays are Emancipation Day (July 29th, 2010) and Somer's Day (July 30th, 2010). The 2010 Cup Match celebrations will be held at Somerset Cricket Club west end. (The host field alternates each year between Somerset and St. Georges.)

Approximately 7,000 people attend the games, with full British protocol and hoopla, plus calypso, reggae, soca and rap, a tremendous amount of socialising, and much wearing of outlandish fashions.

The rest of Bermuda tunes in by radio, TV or Internet, often while picnicking at public parks and beaches, especially Ferry Point, Coney Island and Chaplin Bay. Visitors in search of a quiet, deserted beach during Cup Match may be disappointed by all the camping, feasting and merriment. Better just to join in the spirit.

Festivities began officially in 1902, when Somerset Cricket Club from the West End, now appearing in dark blue and red, and St. George's Cricket Club from the East End, in light blue and dark blue, launched this ritual of batting, fielding and, of course, tea. Each club hosts the event in alternating years.

In 2008, Cup Match ended in a draw, to much lamentation. Towards the end of the match, St. George's blocked and blocked and blocked, but Somerset was unable to force a more satisfying result, so St. George's retained the cup. Demands to add a third day to Cup Match went nowhere.

Asked to nominate the most sensational Cup Match in his experience, longtime Somerset historian Percival St. George Ratteray is quoted in the Mid-Ocean News: "I would say the game of 1924. Just two days before the game, Amon Hunt and Clifford Burrows refused to play — went on strike, as we now say — when their demands to be paid 1 pound per day instead of 10 shillings, were not met.

"They [St. George's] were so confident of victory that the St. George's captain telephoned the mayor of St. George's before 3 p.m. to get the town ready for a big reception," recalled the historian.

Fortunes changed, however, and Somerset retained the cup. "That was the best Cup Match I ever saw," said Ratteray.

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