Australians engage in a game of cricket in ice cold conditions at Antarctica

‘Cold’ Cricket

While it is true that the game of cricket is played at the highest level by a handful of nations, the advent of T20 cricket has seen the game being taken up by a number of other countries and ‘The Gentleman’s Game’ is gaining popularity slowly but surely, as was evident by the success of the Cricket All-Stars 2015 series staged in the US.

The spread of the game has even reached the ice cold continent of Antarctica with some members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) who had carried out a joint logistics mission along with the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) to provide supplies to the expedition team based there, engaging in a game of cricket in their spare time, as reported by ABC News.

The Australians definitely love their cricket and the scientists from Down Under based at the Casey Station research base have been known to play cricket often, especially when the weather conditions are slightly milder, as in the month of February.

Though not as comfortable as the conditions then where temperature hovers around -5 and -1 degrees centigrade, temperatures of about minus-10 degrees Celcius and winds below five knots meant ideal conditions for a quick game of cricket on Saturday.

Incidentally, this was was the first air cargo mission carried out by the AAD and RAAF to Antarctica and upon successfully completing the mission, they made sure to celebrate the occasion in some style.

The C-17 A Globemaster that left Hobart on Saturday morning took about five hours to reach Antarctica and upon touching down, the RAAF personnel who were not involved in the unloading of cargo, quickly got to ‘work’ on a makeshift pitch that was prepared overnight by the local Wilkins Aerodrome crew.

The wicket was a lively one offering a lot of turn for the spinners and the visitors made sure to exploit it, but time was not enough for a meaningful game to be completed as the RAAF crew had to fly back soon.

Famous instances of the game being played in Antarctica

The most famous instance of cricket being played in the ice continent was in 2012 when a match was played between Britain and a Rest of the World team to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Captain Scott’s arrival at the South Pole. The former won the game which was played in extreme conditions with temperatures reaching as low as -35c.

Talking about the experience, Mr Laughton, chief executive of the Business Leadership Academy had said, as reported by the BBC: "Obviously it was very cold and difficult with all the bulky clothing to bat and bowl and slide around in the field to catch the ball but we managed it fine.”

In 2013, Metro reported participants from the Antarctic Ice Marathon, which were mostly Australians and UK citizens, playing a Mini-Ashes game but putting rivalries aside, the match was declared a sporting draw.