When I first came to East Africa I was occasionally asked, “Do you know the game
of cricket?”  I usually answered, “Sorry, but I’m an American and we don’t play
cricket.” 
Over the years I struggled
unsuccessfully to learn the rules of this “English” game, bothered in part that
is somehow linked to the British colonial empire.  But some East African friends
love the game which challenged me.

   
Anyway, I put cricket off my sports itinerary until God had other plans.  While
traveling in South Africa I got malaria and ended up in a hospital where the
doctors could not figure out what was wrong with me.  Finally the blood tests
clearly showed “malaria.”  I spent the weekend in the Men’s Ward where everyone
avidly watched the South African cricket matches from morning to night.  With
the help of the man in the bed next to me I learned the rules of the game and
glimpsed why so many people like it.  Yet cricket still is not my “cup of tea.”