22 Community & Events
mojatu .com
MAASAI CRICKET WARRIORS CHALLENGE CASTLE
ROCKIANS TO A GAME
By Olivia Auckland
We had the honour of meeting the Maasai Cricket Warriors from Kenya
this August. The visit was part of the Warriors’ 2018 tour – a major cultural
exchange been the Maasai community and the UK. The Warriors were
hosted by the Mojatu Foundation and Nottingham Trent University, and
had a jam-packed schedule of cricket matches and community events.
The group is campaigning against social injustices in their community,
including hate crime, modern slavery, child marriage and FGM. The
prospect of a cricket match with the Warriors was pretty darn exciting. We
quickly set to work and rallied some Castle Rockians who were prepared to
take them on. Sports underachievers were more than happy to spectate
over a drink in the Vat and Fiddle’s beer garden! Spectators could also
purchase handmade jewellery and knick-knacks from a couple of stalls in the garden. The Maasai’s visit kicked off with a
brewery tour led by Robin Hood (aka Tim Pollard). Tim’s playful presence also led to some role playing…cue Robin Hood
“shot dead” in the middle of the brewery yard.
Castle Rock hosts the Maasai Cricket Warriors for a friendly
Cricket Match in the Brewery.
The Game
The game was compact and
quickfire, with an idiosyncratic
rule-book that encouraged
low, controlled shots. Like Kwik
Cricket but for adults! Each
team had six fielders, and each
bowler had six overs before
it was time to switch around.
Scoring relied on hitting the
ball into various zones, as
opposed to the conventional
system of two batsmen running. One run was awarded for hitting the ball
outside the ‘batting square’ (or in brewery terms, the ‘loading bay’). Two runs
were awarded for hitting the boundary of the brewery yard. Four runs and
out was given if the ball hit the boundary without first hitting the floor. The
Maasai were batting first. Team Castle Rock kept a fair amount of pressure on
them, with some nicely delivered bowls and even one or two wickets taken.
However, the Warriors delivered the bat well and had 46 runs by the end of
their innings. Castle Rock made a valiant effort, with some superb low strikes
topping our run count nicely. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be. A string of almost
consecutive catches took the wind out of our sails and we finished just a little
shy of the Maasai, at 39. The cricket itself was secondary to just being able
to host the Maasai. It was a privilege to meet the Warriors, learn more about
their work, and donate to their campaigning.
One for the Castle Rock memory books.
NB: We’d been hoping to host a cricket game in the yard for a while, but this went
above and beyond our expectations. If it sounds right up your street, our MD
Colin Wilde is keen to keep it going, so keep your eyes peeled.