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Astana Cricket Club

Wednesday 1 March 2017

An exotic game for Kazakhstan: Astana Cricket Club is born


Enthusiasts rallied for a gentlemen’s tournament on the frozen River Ishim in Astana, Kazakhstan.

The idea came about one afternoon playing cricket on a six-a-side football court just before the first snow in late September.  It was minus eight degrees Celsius (about 17 Fahrenheit). A couple of months later during the Remembrance Sunday service, temperatures had dropped to there usual -30 (minus 20 Fahrenheit) for November, the Indian Defence attachĂ© merely asked when the game would take place when asked if he would be interested in playing cricket on the frozen river.  End of February was the hasty response.

The end of February came around very quickly as these things tend to do. One way to get things done is to share your ideas with the right people.  Permission was needed for an organised event.  Who has cricket equipment to play on the frozen steppes of Astana?  It turned out one Englishman did, whose kit was quickly commandeered.

At the last minute some discarded matting from a building site was acquired for the wicket. The accounting firm PWC, kindly sponsored shirts and caps.  A local firm, GSSR, sponsored a trilingual, (Russian, Kazakh and English) banner and Astana Cricket Club was inaugurated with a tournament on the frozen River Ishim with the futuristic Astana cityscape as a backdrop. 

Eleven six-a-side teams were formed from the sixty odd enthusiasts who turned up on the day. A few Kazakhs were given quick batting lessons.  Many Indians were initially puzzled to discover that not everyone in the world was born knowing how to hold a cricket bat.


Other than asking fast bowlers to restrain themselves due to the hard wicket and proximity of other bone fide winter games, such as ice hockey, the tournament looked like an everyday Sunday afternoon six-a-side cricket tournament you might witness on a cricket green in England or Queensland, Australia or even a patch of wasteland in Pakistan or India. Except that the spectators, waiting batsman, umpires and scorekeepers were attired in parkas and ski jackets and standing on discarded cardboard to keep frost bite at bay.  Probably one of the few times umpires have been truly grateful for bowlers' discarded clothing.


It was a foggy start to the day making conditions initially damp, but by the end of the morning sunglasses were needed. A great day of cricket; the only complaint - we had not arranged a two-day tournament.  Astana Cricket Club now has an enthusiastic core of players willing to play regularly and teach Kazakhs the gentlemen’s game.  Talks are now under way with sponsors to purchase equipment and find a training and regular fixtures venue for the warmer months. We are now another step closer to a steppes cricket league.

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