Napier: ODI Cricket - NZ vs. England

  Napier, New Zealand
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Okay. This isn't in chronological order (it was only last week! Feb 20th) but to hell with that.

Desiree... our designated driver

Todd - cooking lasagne on the move

So we left Taupo at about 9.30am (behind schedule) to go to the cricket in Napier. We had a few drinks on the way there (except Desiree - she was our Designated Driver... God bless her!).

We get to Napier and Todd and the lads decide to sneak a few drinks into McLean Park (stupid idea really). So they buy sambuca & coke and who knows what else. Needless to say, when they're a few metres away from security they decide that their idea is not gonna work. Queue the mass consumption of drink before approaching security.

Todd 'take a swig of this' Debenham

Now when Todd handed me a 2l bottle of coke with sambuca in it, I assumed it was mostly coca cola and so took a big swig. A BIG swig. Well... I was wrong. It was mostly sambuca. Infact I don't recall tasting any coke. So I'm there grimacing like hell after way more sambuca then I was expecting, Todd's laughing his ass off.

McLean Park, Napier

So we get into the park, find a spot and sit down. It's then that I start to feel the effects. I'm having trouble focusing on the game. It's a bit blurry really. So I do the only natural thing anyone can do in that position - I lie down for a few minutes to take a rest. I mean the match has just started, England are batting, the sun is shining, the sky is a perfect blue. It's bliss.

That's not puke. It's that zinc sun protector

England bowling: mid-shot.

According to Todd, it was three hours later when I finally woke up. England had finished batting, scored 340 runs, and New Zealand had already started batting and scored 50 so far. I had blissfully slept through the entire first half of the game.

Still, the game ended in dramatic fashion when NZ, on course for an apparently easy win, found England in stubborn form

View from the pantry...

OK, so this is an official promo shot

- the match ending in a draw. Seemingly a rarity in One Day cricket. Todd thought it was an anti-climax. I thought it was great, really entertaining stuff.

So I at least caught the most exciting part of the game.

And the crowd go wild!

Jus' chillin' at the cricket...

It's fun to stay at the... eh... what's it again?

And, to boot, those three hours asleep in the sun did wonders for my tan! (and yes. Of course I had sunblock on.)


All-in-all, a good day out.