Description of Figure/Doll

Stuffed male doll with dreadlocks from the culture of the Bahamas. His body is hand made with black cotton cloth. He is wearing bright woven hat, shirt, and pants, along with a wool apron. His face is created with button eyes and a felt mouth. He has numerous dreadlocks for hair, and leather sandals on his feet.

Link to higher resolution images at ClipPix

Bahamas

Location: Caribbean Island

Capital: Nassau

Main language: English

Currency: Bahamian Dollar

Figure/Doll

Construction: cloth, yarn

Height in Centimeters: 28

Height in Inches: 11

The Cricket Match: A National Pastime in the Bahamas

Reading Level: 6.10

It was a miserable day for a cricket match. I peered out my window into the gloomy street and wondered if the cricket pitch (the field we play on) would be too muddy. I looked up, and the clouds were rolling across the sky as if in a race, with the largest black clouds in the lead.

To me, cricket is the most exciting sport in all of the Bahamas. Sure we have soccer, golf, tennis and surfing, but nothing is as much fun as a game of cricket. As I stood at the window watching the rain, my mother was busy in the kitchen cooking. She delivers food to several of the local restaurants. I could smell some of the different aromas coming from her kitchen and it was making me very hungry. She was preparing some dishes like crawfish casserole, peas & rice, and guava duff (a yummy dessert made by folding fruit into dough). My very favorite meal is conch fritters with a large glass of ice cold “switcha” (a mixture of lemon, sugar, and water). There are a lot of conch shells in the waters around the islands of the Bahamas. The meat of the conch is very tasty, and I was hoping that we would have that for supper.

Suddenly, like a miracle, the sun came out. The glistening leaves of the palm trees gave me hope that I would soon be leaving for the cricket field. I gathered up my cricket ball and my cricket bat (which is like a baseball bat, only flatter) and shouted to my mom that I was leaving.

When I arrived at the field, my team was waiting. We won the coin toss, and decided to bat first. All 11 boys of the other team ran out on the field as our first two batters readied themselves. The bowler (or pitcher) has to throw the ball, and his task is to hit the wicket (consisting of three wooden stumps and two small bails) behind the batter. If the bowler hits the wicket with the ball (and a bail falls down), the batter is out. If the batter hits the ball, he can run to the other wicket. If a fielder hits a wicket while the ball is in play, a runner is out. Another way to dismissing the batter, is to catch a fly ball. All batters have a chance to bat, and sometimes this can take a very long time. Today, we were playing One Day Cricket. That means there would only be one inning.

I am one of the best cricketers on the island, and it took the other team a long time to finally retire me. I scored many runs, and I felt proud of my accomplishment. I was certainly not an out for a duck, meaning a batter who gets out without scoring any runs. Not only was I a good batter, I was the best bowler on the team. I bowled the ball faster and more accurately than anyone else. I was able to put top spin on the ball, which made the ball very difficult to hit. The one inning took us five hours to complete, but my team was victorious. Everyone on my team was very happy when we won. We knew we were headed for the championship game next week.

As I road my bike home, I looked up at the clear blue sky and thought about how great it was to live on a Caribbean island. As I opened the front door, there it was, my favorite meal, conch fritters!


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