Deconstructing Laguna Gully

Even the most cynical of critics would willingly concede that these guys can play- they can talk the talk and walk the walk of cricket. But still one might ask, how come young men who had, it seemed, taken a solemn oath to dedicate their lives to blackjack, flash and other sundry games of chance generously laced with beer and more beer turn to cricket? It could have been that they were caught up in the fever of the Seventh World Cup in 1999. And then maybe not. Who is to argue with the roll of the dice? I can but tell you what I know. I know it all started in Block 7 because I was there. It was one of those nights that stretched long and especially long for Raja and Anand who were struck by a luckless streak that befalls all devotees to the game of chance sometime or the other.

They picked up a tennis ball and desultorily bounced it off the wall and soon a game had begun. The door was the wicket. The walls stood guard on all sides and the chairs covered the strategic gaps in the field. The batsmen deftly maneuvered the ball between these minefields to stay alive and the bowler used all his craft to lay unbeatable traps. In a very short span of time they both became so good in playing this little game in the house that they decided to play outdoors and even challenged fellow gamblers Suresh and Rajesh to a game. After a few unsuccessful attempts at playing in the garden, the slope between the plaza and Block 13, they found this perfect Gully next to the main entrance of Phase 3 Laguna City. Here are a few interesting nuggets of information about their style of cricket back in 1999:

# The wicket was the electric pole.
# The hill slope next to the electric pole was the wicket keeper.
#One bowler and two fielders.
# The batsman had to run for the runs yet
# No run or wicket was given without intense arguments between each team.
# But most importantly, the batsman is out however and whatever way the ball leaves the confines of the Gully dreamland and falls over to the cement gardens of Laguna City.

Slowly other friends in Laguna started to join this very interesting game and within weeks there were eight to ten people. As the number increased the rules of the game became more complex. These are the current rules:

#The wicket is the dustbin.
#The batsman does not need to run between wickets.
#Batsman gets,
>> One run when the ball crosses first electric pole in front of him, two if the ball crosses second pole and four if it crosses third pole.
>> He can also get two runs if he hits an aerial shot that falls after the first pole and gets three and six if it crosses second pole and third pole respectively.
#Every ball out side the leg stump, over the shoulder or a full toss above the waist is considered an illegal ball. If an over has three illegal balls the batting team gets two runs. After that every additional illegal ball in that over will be counted as one run.
#No runs if the ball goes behind the wicket after it is hit (this was a pure diabolical plan hatched by Suresh to keep Anand from scoring runs and also to save his teammates from running up to 7-11 every time a behind the wicket shot was hit.

Despite all these changes, two things never changed. The ball that leaves the confines of the Gully is still the greatest sin and no run or wicket is given without intense argument and debate.

Within few weeks players mastered the art of bowling and batting (not to mention the fielding) in the narrow street. They wanted to play only with good tennis cricket balls and proper cricket bats (we are still waiting for sponsorship from the likes of Reebok, BDM, MRF!!). They even had a dedicated set of Laguna Gully spectators. The old man who walks his dogs in a bag, the drunk who forever threatens some dire consequence or the other and many other passers by. Players and teams started to make strategies to get others out. Negative bowling and sledging became part of the game.

By now everyone was, as Amitabh said, talking cricket, walking cricket and eating cricket. Then it was just a matter of time before they showed themselves out on a proper cricket ground. Rajesh started enquiring about the availability of the grounds while Suresh and Anand looking for players' availability.

Came 21st Sep 2002, the D-day in Laguna cricket annals - a typical lovely day in Hong Kong during September - following on from the intense gully rivalry between two unnamed individuals, teams were formed, aptly named the Nutcrackers and Tornadoes led by Anand and Rajesh respectively.

People had a hard time sleeping that day. The blood was still rushing with the joy they had on the ground. The next day all the players thought that they needed to have a web site to express their experience on and off the ground. Lots of names were tossed around; ultimately the one suggested by Shobana got the unofficial nod. www.lagunagully.com thus came into being!

Currently there are more than 40 members in the Lagunagully cricket club. Players are getting better and better as they are getting older and older. What is going to happen to this club nobody knows. But everybody is sure something very positive is going to come out of this little community. After all they come through a lot already- lost hundreds of balls, risked marital estrangement, verbal duels with zealous guardsmen and such. But the love of cricket lives on in Laguna Gully.