Most of the cricket players would think twice before showing a prowess of their acumen in the game of cricket, but the fans do not suffer from any gumption of such kind. It may one of the strangest venues, as Himalayas have never served a venue for any other sports but for mountaineering, but as the times are changing so the tides are also changing.

A 20-20 match was played, and the two teams who played in honor of the first persons who had climbed the Mount Everest named their teams as Tenzing and Hillary. It is a record of sorts as the teams played the world’s highest competitive game, just above base camp at 16,945 ft.

Team Tenzing, which fielded first, was led by Haydn Main, 29, a lawyer from South London. It was a nine day excursion to reach this venue and both the team had 125 members each, along with medics and even grounds men to create the ideal ambience for conduct of the match.

Team Hillary, was led by a New Zealander, Glen Lewis, and it won this match by 36 runs. The celebration however was not relegated to the winning side only, but it was on occasion when both the sides shed their difference and celebrated the occasion with a giant bottle of champagne and several cups of tea. The whole idea of staging the match at such high altitudes was to raise money for charity and the game raised more than £250,000 for Lord’s Taverners and the Himalayan Trust UK.

Help of the local people was solicited to clear stones and rocks off the pitch with pickaxes. The wicket was made up of a rollup synthetic wicket. Owing to the synthetic wicket, the ground had acquired the hue of a billiard table-like playing surface.

When he saw the ground for the first time, Richard Kirtley, the expedition leader, could not but conclude that it had a striking resemblance to the Oval cricket ground of London. This was the genesis of the idea for staging the cricket match at such a height.

At this altitude the body absorbs only two thirds of the oxygen it does at sea level. That means resting heartbeats are a third faster, slowing the players down – but not the ball, which moves at the same speed.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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