A sub-zero World Cup

Come Sunday, six teams will compete for the sixth unofficial Snow Cricket 'World Cup', in Montreal, Canada. Organised by the Pirates of the St. Lawrence Cricket Club, the tournament will see more than 60 members of different nationalities take the field in sub-zero conditions.

"The challenge is as much about not losing fingers as it is about maintaining line and length," says Angus Bell, the founder of the Pirates club. Bell is no stranger to odd cricket pitches. He first played on cricket on ice in 2005, inside a former Soviet missile factory in Estonia while researching his book, Batting on the Bosphorus: A Skoda-Powered Cricket Tour Through Eastern Europe.

The six teams in this year's tournament - Canada, England, Australia-NZ, African Alliance, Asian Bloc and the Celts - will play each other in a Super Six group. A Kyrgyz lady and an Andorran cricketer are expected to take the field on Sunday, giving the tournament a global feel. Bell is backing Canada to win this year's edition. "All the men have been growing beards to protect their faces from the cold, so I know they're taking it seriously," he says.