Wedding rivalry

The wings flexed and the body was jolted in every direction as we accelerated away from the runway and into the tail end of Storm Imogen. I could not complain as the Boeing 747-8 made it safely through the turbulence and headed south for warmer climes. The following morning I landed in drought ridden South Africa, it is amazing what difference a ten hour flight and just two time zones can make.

I am having slight deja vu. Last September I attended my first wedding abroad in Greece. It is not the foreign location that is so strikingly similar, more the international sporting situation. The Greek wedding between my Welsh friend and her English fiancé fell on the same evening as that disappointing rugby World Cup match when England lost to Wales. On the plus side it gave my friend her fairy tale day. I am now in South Africa for my English school friend’s wedding to his South African bride to be. The location has changed but this time the sport is cricket; the wedding party rivalry is still just as ripe.

Unlike the rugby World Cup the cricket lacks such a definite conclusion to this historical rivalry. England comfortably won the test down in the Southern Hemisphere back in January and went into the One Day Internationals looking strong. With an encouraging start they were one game ahead after three matches. I thought this would be the perfect occasion to break my cricket virginity and join the barmy army. Frustratingly I had to dash away before the extremely exciting fourth game concluded. With South Africa being so sports mad there was no shortage of bars showing the cricket, however I was in a smart restaurant for a pre wedding meal with the girls. I need not have worried as the result became sadly obvious as the sports bar opposite erupted with cheer, and it was not full of the barmy army.