Cricket in unusual places

Australian cricket

Madeira's latest sporting star: Moises Henriques

Chris Barrett from the Sydney Morning Herald explores Moises Henriques' connection to his Portuguese birthplace, Madeira, which he shares with star footballer Christiano Ronaldo.

Australia's tour of India might not be a water-cooler topic at Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium, where the world's second-best footballer makes his living, but the Australian all-rounder's exploits are not going without recognition on the Portuguese island from where he and Ronaldo hail.

The round-ball game, not cricket, is the leading sport on Madeira, off the west coast of Morocco. Yet word of Henriques's outstanding Test debut on the subcontinent will make its way to that part of the North Atlantic if his father has anything to do with it, no matter if no one there knows reverse-swing from a reverse-sweep.

Cricket news

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.

English cricket

Cricket's parting of the waves

While not quite a miracle, it is certainly an unusual occurance that allows a cricket match to be played in the middle of the sea. Every year, the tide in the Solent estuary recedes sufficiently to reveal 200 yards of the Brambles sand bank.

Since 1950, Island Sailing Club from Cowes and Hamble-based Royal Southern Yacht Club have ventured out in boats, waiting for their pitch to appear to begin an eight-a-side contest in the middle of a shipping lane.

With the pitch likely to deteriorate, teams favour winning the toss and batting first, although the outfield is likely to become damper in the second innings, affecting the quality of the ball.