An Ode to Newlands, Cricket and the Mountain

There are few places in the world as special as Cape Town, South Africa. While all the clichés about the beautiful mountain in your backyard, the wild South-Easter and Long Street are true, there is one special place in the Southern Suburbs of the Cape which epitomizes the greatness of the Mother City.

Sahara Park Newlands, located in heart of Newlands with the Table Mountain backdrop and draped in the smell of the brewery next door – this is a place where history repeats itself, hearts are broken, new friends made and local along with international rivalries are swept aside for one common cause: the love of Test cricket.

Once a year Cape Town locals are treated to a great Test match at Newlands and 2010 kicked off with a bang as South Africa and England came out to play. With the sun burning brightly in the sky and the Barmy Army in full voice, I took to Newlands for day four of the third Test between South Africa and England for what promised to be a great day out.

With Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla at the crease, we sat and watched the skipper get stuck in andwaited patiently for the bar to open (no drinking before the Boeing goes over at 11:00).

There is something incredibly special about any international sporting event in Cape Town. Not only are we the best crowd in the country (Newlands usually sells out every day of a five day game) but it’s also a city which is able to unite a country burdened with such a crude and unkind history.

The alcohol may be a factor but the realization of your mortatilty due to the sheer vastness of Table Mountain — which stares you in the face and screams:”you’re just little” while another six gets lofted down to long-on — is something which you’ll only experience at this ground.

When we realize just how mortal we are and how minute our existence actually is, we tend to become a lot more accepting and forgiving. When you walk through the gates at Newlands, the monkey hops off your back and cricket ground cradles you like a mother would cradle her infant. Here, colour does not matter, what happened in our unique but harsh history does not matter. You are locked in, away from your troubles and shielded by the beauty of Cape Town.

Idle conversation and light banter come standard. Some elect to spend their day drinking until they pass out.  The suits sit in their air-conditioned members area. The Newlands faithful nap, discuss tactics and bemoan the wrongful decisions of the umpires.

Day four of the New Year’s Test match at Newlands is a special day, as usual. While Smith’s decision to declare only after lunch proves incorrect, a day out at one of the most breathtaking grounds in the world is exactly what the doctor would prescribe for unwinding.

As the euphoria dies down and the crowd starts to filter out  and the shadows over the ground grow longer and play is brought to an end and cloud starts to blanket the mountain with the sun still brightly burning,  reality knocks on the door and you can’t help but sit back and take in the strange solitude and think: “I love this city”.