The opening match of the WBBL season – between the Melbourne Renegades and Sydney Thunder – wasn’t the first time I’ve been to the cricket.
My cricket-obsessed boyfriend dragged me to a men’s test match just a few years ago (the draw card was getting to wear the pink McGrath Foundation scarf as a cute neckerchief) and when the rain saw play cancelled halfway through the match, I’ll admit, I was not-so-secretly chuffed.
Life with my partner means that cricket is a permanent fixture of our lives over summer. If it’s not on the telly, cricket scores and commentary is undoubtedly blaring through the radio.
Slowly, slowly, I was coming to understand the rules, but couldn’t really bring myself to attend another match. The tests are just too long, too drawn out; it felt like nothing interesting ever happened.
That’s precisely what made my first encounter with WBBL so great.
I had no idea cricket could be so fun and interesting. It was lunchtime, and there was a real buzz around North Sydney Oval with lots of people dressed up in team gear. In between the music that played during hits, the stumps lighting up when they were hit, the fireworks, the impressive dives and catches, and the epic fours – it was unlike any sport game I’ve ever attended.
Watching Harmanpreet Kaur from the Sydney Thunder make a superb diving catch towards the end of the game is something that I won’t forget for a long time. Immediately after I couldn’t help but text my boyfriend, “WBBL is LEGIT!”
