Karachi Chronicles Chapter 8

I’ve never been a huge fan of bananas, which is kind of ironic for someone born in Coffs Harbour, the home of the Big Banana. Something about the combination of shape, texture and taste has never really worked for me. I guess floating in the space between phallic and catabolised, isn't for everyone. However, through desperation to placate my digestive system this all changed while I was in Karachi.

Luis Hermida, pictured, is the main instigator for this story. For those of you who don’t know him, Luis plays in Queensland and currently holds the unofficial record for the highest number of teams played for in Mycricket†. Quite impressively, amongst these is the Mexican national team. Often heading to Latin America, to help his amigos* vie for a spot in the ICC T20 world cup, he’s a seasoned traveller and experienced campaigner. For this trip, he was selected for his bowling and was probably one of the most chilled guys on tour.

This tale began when we went out to mark our run ups before the tour’s fourth game at Moin Khan Academy, a day nighter against Canada. I’d gotten the groundsman to paint my mark at the far end before we moved back to the southern end, closest to the pavilion. In the rush to get it done before warmups started, we had changed ends prior to Luis painting his mark at the northern end. To save time Luis placed a mark with the only thing he had, a banana, and caught up with us at the southern end. After finishing up Luis returned to the far end to get his mark painted.

When we got back up there, Luis was just looking around slightly confused. I started to give him the hurry up as we needed to get back up the two stories to the change room, kit up and be back down for the warmup, imminently. He replied, “someone stole my mark!” Before I had time to tell him that’s what the paint is for, he continued, “I put a banana here a minute ago and now it’s gone.” At that moment we both glanced sideways and spied one of the staff eating a banana behind the roller. Luis looked at me, I looked at the smile on the groundsman’s face and stated, “at least you made someone’s day mate!” 

Luis re-stepped out his mark, we made the warmup on time and usually this is where the short version of the story would end. However, taking inspiration from Luis’s kind act I had an idea. Back at the hotel we were getting regular deliveries of free fruit platers. Although yet another fantastic example of the Pakistani hospitality, this was too much fruit for us to eat. My digestive tract was also quite out of sorts, but I’ll try and hold onto those details for a couple more chapters. Thus, I decided to stash the excess fruit and pass it on to the ground staff each match day.

Our next match was at a test ground, the well resourced National Bank Stadium, so I waited a few more days until we played at the NBP sports complex. Located in Clifton, the prevailing view from the change rooms was dominated by the spectacular Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine and a huge half completed high-rise that blocked out the stinging afternoon sun. Hot tip, win the toss and bat first if you ever get the chance to play here. For the record and any building buffs reading, the building is Bahria Icon Tower, which at three hundred metres in height is the country’s tallest building.

As I’d played in the last two games, I was sitting this one out and didn’t need to rush as much before the game. This was the perfect opportunity to present the ground staff with the fruit from the hotel before the game. Timing my run, I ambled out with the hastily stocked plastic bag just as the lads finished up marking the pitch. As you’d expect they were thankful and we had a good chat about the grassy deck, by Pakistan standards, among other things. After this brief chat, I headed off to the warmup before gearing up to run water for the lads.

Days where you weren’t selected in the starting team it was expected you ran drinks, and this was probably one of the most important jobs on tour. Although you were being “rested” these days were the exact opposite. If you haven’t done it under extreme heat and humidity or weren’t there you may not understand. Fortunately, I’ve already written a whole chapter about it to really get the message across. One of the tasks involved patrolling the boundary with well needed refreshments for the boys while we were fielding.

Later in the day, on one of my forays around the perimeter, the ground staff called me into their shed. They kindly invited me to sit around and join them eating a huge communal plate of biryani, a famous Karachi staple. Due to the unsettled nature of my gut, I regretfully didn’t tuck into the amazing looking biryani. However, I did hang around for a very insightful conversation with the head groundskeeper. Interestingly, it turned out he used to be the goalkeeper for the Pakistan National soccer team.

Another ritual that I incorporated in my drink running days was clearing the used bottles after our fielding innings. I’d just do a quick lap and pick up any rubbish along the way while everyone got changed for the interval. On this same day as I was cruising around, sweeping the boundary, the same groundskeeper who goal kept for Pakistan suddenly came charging towards me from across the field. Initially worried there was a problem, I was relieved when he just wanted to help me clean up. He was actually so insistent on taking over, that I relinquished my bag of empty bottles and reluctantly assumed the role of supervisor.

Continuing around the boundary, we resumed chatting just like two blokes that had been playing together for years. This is where it became apparent, that an act as simple as leaving a banana on the ground could be so profound. Although experiences like this can’t be measured on the scoreboard, they are an important part of cricket tours and travel in general. It can’t be overlooked how important the exchange of cultures and making friends across the globe is. Anyway, I haven’t eaten a banana since leaving Pakistan but I’m pretty sure every time I do from now on it will remind me of the hospitality we experienced there.

† Mycricket was the main online repository for cricket scoring at the time. It has now been superseded by PlayHQ in Australia.

* My Spanish sucks, so sorry if this is considered offensive (modern society is a sticky wicket to play on).