Cobras and lizards fail to stop play on Bali
As cricketers from across the globe do battle in the IPL, a home-grown revolution is happening 3000 miles away
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
As cricketers from across the globe do battle in the IPL, a home-grown revolution is happening 3000 miles away. Easter sees the 15th staging of the Bali International Sixes. Its motto is ‘Developing Cricket for Indonesians’ and for the first time in its history, Indonesian teams outnumber their ex-pat and visiting counterparts, writes Simon Fry in the Independent on Sunday.
Only four teams competed in the inaugural event which was won by the Rebels from Jakarta, Java. Fourteen years later, 12 teams featuring players aged from 16 to 70 will gather at the Bukit Oval, Udayana Cricket Club’s ground on Bali’s Jimbaran Heights, where cobras and monitor lizards await fielders retrieving balls whacked beyond the boundary.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo