2016 Feb 23
It’s that time of year again. That time when it’s more about a truck than it is about a bat. That time when it’s more about the playa than it is about the game of cricket. So ready the papare and grab a beer -the Big Match season is here!
If you’re from a Lankan school you know the Big Match is a pretty big deal. It’s a big deal for the team that’s been training and building their cricketing career for quite a number of hard working years. It’s a big deal for the stewards/house cops/prefects etc. who have been intensely organizing this three day extravaganza. It’s a big deal for the supporters who proudly accessorize their usually plain shirts with a vibrant flag. And for no rational reason, it’s also a big deal for all the girls and some boys who have literally no interest in any bat or any ball. In conclusion, the Big Match is apparently a big deal. Oops, then did I type the wrong heading? Nope.
While I can’t vow to this notion, as I am not a cricketer myself, I do believe that the Big Match is genuinely a big deal for the team players that have been practicing for years while earning that prestigious place on the ground where all their hard work will pay off. I can only form an idea of how tiring it had been and how much commitment was necessary to prepare for this crucial moment in time. They not only play for themselves but also play for their school and the overwhelming crowd that’s there to cheer them on. However, is it a big deal for everyone else watching the outcome of their hard work?
Around the time of March every year quite a few grounds are filled with excited crowds claiming that the Big Match does indeed mean a great deal to them so they therefore must spend their money and energy and make sure they witness it! Some of these people are the ones that barely even see the batsman finish his swing because they’re too busy having their back to the match while gossiping with a friend. They’re also too busy doing the catwalk around the whole stadium after unnecessarily getting dressed to kill. They are the wanderers that aimlessly waste three days as if they confused a hectic and sunny match day with a cocktail party where you are supposed to look pretty and mingle instead. If they spent the amount of time they put into getting their eye liner on fleek into actually learning that cricket is played with a bat and not a racket then they could finally appreciate the art of the game and show some true appreciation without pathetically painting their nails blue and yellow, for example, just for show.
Furthermore, the Big Match is all about the fight; the fight between two schools that promotes both healthy competition and true sportsmanship. However, that isn’t particularly the fight some of us come to see. Some like to create a fight of their own because the real battle on the field seems to get somewhat too boring for this supportive crowd. Petty arguments made into a big deal stem every year from a few too many drinks and a chance to show off some muscle to that random hot girl. Slurred threats and missed punches backed up by the ooh’s and ahh’s of the throng that circles a hot tempered teen with bad judgment is the usual scene at every Big Match. Violence has always been the guilty pleasure of the human race so we must appreciate the tactful methods used by our young school boys to use this as an opportunity to try out those solid moves they learnt on COD because anyway that’s more important than the moves the players on the field have been trying master for years.
And finally, the biggest deal of all at any Big Match is the couple who seems to have confused the fact that Valentine’s Day is in February and not March. For a teenager with raging hormones living in this extremely conventional society, a chance to spend three whole days with that cute boy you met through Instagram is literally like early Christmas. Why waste a chance of having not only two Valentines but also two Christmases in one year by watching some silly game of… (What was it? Ice hockey?) When you can roam around the whole of Colombo creating memories with your apparent ‘soul mate’ during that time instead. The Big Match is the event which amuses the giddy and giggling girls who drool over the boy who winked at them and it is the event which keeps the boys occupied with scoring in more personal aspects than the actual score board.
The true purpose of the Big Match is lost amongst these large crowds and only a minority will leave the stadium knowing that they actually watched the match and supported the team throughout the entire game. Don’t cheer because you blindly followed the crowd; cheer because you actually saw the batsman score a sixer. Don’t come to see your lover; come to see a game you love. The idea that the Big Match is a big deal is an illusion created by most of us to hide our denial about how we just use this momentous event as an opportunity to fulfill our futile teenage crazes. The Big Match isn’t a big deal. But maybe it should be? How about we actually watch the match for once and find out what all this fuss is about? Maybe it actually is a big deal.
Photo Credits: Akila Samaranayake | murclive.com
