My second day in Melbourne with my family, we attended a cricket match and had no idea what to expect. My parents, my brother, and myself had never watched cricket before and did not know any of the rules. We sat in our seats and the locals around us picked up on our accents immediately and realized that we had no idea what we were watching. There was a man named David sitting in front of us with his two kids who were 9 and 11 and they were as knowledgeable about cricket as I am about the NBA/NFL (very knowledgeable!) For the rest of our time at the stadium we talked to the man and his two young kids and learned everything about the sport.

First off, David described the difference between the three types of cricket matches and told us that we were currently at an international test match (5-day match) of Australia vs South Africa and that we would only get to see South Africa bat that entire day. I was able to ask David and his kids so many questions about the game including the rules of the game, the strategies each team utilized, and the history of Australian cricket. Our conversation started because they overheard the dumb Americans (Us!) and genuinely wanted to share their game with us so that we would enjoy it more. Once David told us about the rules, his children told us all about the strategy and the significance of some of the players on the field. My family and I had an amazing day and ended up enjoying the cricket match far more than we thought was possible. In the United States, if a foreigner came to a football game and didn’t know the rules, the majority of Americans wouldn’t care to take the time to explain it so that they would have a better time. In Australia, people are more friendly and actually like to look out for foreigners in hope that they enjoy their time in Australia.