The day was already hot as the boys gathered at eight o'clock for the game. Some magpies had taken up sentry duty on the few gums trees clustered at the north end of the oval. The gums supplied a little bit of shade, but the way the 'pies treated those brown birds, we figured they could have the tree. A few parents were unfolding chairs and dispensing zinc cream.
In the park complex, there were about five fields for the big ball sports, plus an athletics track, and I think some baseball across the way. The main fields were used for cricket in the summer and Aussie rules in the winter. Soccer was relegated to over past the baseball. For the junior cricket teams, markers were placed in a bit closer than the boundary to make a smaller playing field.
The main grounds were all interconnected but the "grand stand" and the rooms and snack-bar were at the far eastern end of the main oval - as far as possible from the junior's field. The major car park that serviced the main oval was directly behind the rooms.
Skinny roads tracked their way around to the smaller car parks, but the bureaucrats probably put the extra car parks in as an afterthought.
A six foot chicken wire fence with barbed wire at the top untidily snaked its way around the car park that was nearest Oval 5. It looked like the car park was really related to the SES centre across the way, but families used it for the sports events at the weekend. The barbed wire looked like it was trying to protect the asphalt, not the ovals. The powers that be didn't bother putting in any people-sized gates from the cars to the ovals - only big gates from the road, which were left open always.
An inventive person, probably a sports dad with a bit of strength to him, had unwound the chicken wire where it joined to a metal fence post and dragged the fence a few feet aside that made handy access from the nearest car park to the junior games. I think this makeshift "gate" had been like that for a few years.
Between us and the next field stood a rickety old wooden structure that could be used for displaying the score - I think for both fields. When it was first painted dark green it probably looked good, but the peeling paint gave it the appearance of a regular fire hazard It wasn't used for the junior cricketers but you could be pretty sure that if you went near it the SES (State Emergency Services) guys stationed over the road would have a few words to say.
We were the "away" team today - the home team had all arrived early and were congregating at the practice nets doing that "all have a hit in a semi circle" drill. Our team arrived in dribs and drabs as none of the fields were clearly numbered. There was a huge list at the front gate. You can be pretty sure that the youngsters get to play on the fields furthest from anything. I couldn't even see a tap to replenish the water bottles.
540 words approx.
The above prose was written by hand while watching a game of cricket the other day. It took about half an hour to type in with some minor editing going on. Several sections were moved about, but no new stuff was created.
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