The currency needed to acknowledge a fine stroke

Acting on rumours that tickets will be sold at the gate, my friends and I dared to venture to Newlands Cricket Stadium early this Sunday morning (my gratitude to the early birds who waited there from 03:30 AM, I only joined at 07:00). Unfortunately there were no R175 grass tickets available; but we did get R200 stadium tickets! For those in the know, we ended up five rows from fine leg when the facing batsman was at the north-end. And what a game it was! South Africa won by 108 runs and did very well to make up for a sluggish start (scorecard). The day’s entertainment was worth the price of entry, 2.5 litres of fluids, 3 chicken-and-mushroom pies as well as the seven hours in the sun at 35°C. We were treated to a century by Gibbs, a blitz half-century by Kemp, an unfair dismissal of Smith, flurries of fours and sixes, great catches, run outs, a bowling and some LBW’s (Ntini had 29/3) – a well rounded day of cricket. Add to the game a location at the foot of Table Mountain and the company of friends and 20000 enthusiastic strangers and the day was well worth every cent and effort! Indeed, a glorious end to a two month holiday under South African skies!

Yes, tomorrow I return to that little university town nestled between the vineyards of the Cape. Carpool expanded and I’m strapped for cash: let the adventure begin! Woo! Yes, everything is already laid out for tomorrow. Yes, I did get excited by the added features of my new calculator. Maybe the holiday was a bit too long after all, but I’m not complaining. Another week would probably have driven me up the walls, but timing worked well for me.

All that I am feeling now is a content numbness and I only care about how severe my sunburn is going to be tonight.