Former Big Brother housemate rubs shoulders with intl cricketers; says he has played cricket all his life
Ryan Buckingham, former Big Brother Housemate in 2012, was the Celebrity Guest Player on Sunday, 2 March, in the 2014 Infinity Cricket Invitation T20 match at the Junction Oval.
Infinity Cricket organizes Melbourne’s largest ‘open’ T20 cricket tournaments since its inaugural launch in 2011. As part of the organisation’s vision of ‘Connecting People through Cricket,’ an invitational match was organised as the curtain-raiser to the tournament Grand Final held later in the afternoon.
The invitational match saw Ryan Buckingham rub shoulders with cricketers from International backgrounds including Sri Lankan National player Kaushalya Weeraratne, Papua New Guinea premier batsman Lega Siaka, Vanuatu fast bowler Patrick Matautaava and West Indian pacer Darrel Brown.
Buckingham, who has a deep passion for cricket, enjoyed the day and the initiative taken by Infinity Cricket. “It’s a great please to be invited by Infinity Cricket to play a match at the Junction Oval. I love playing cricket. I’ve played it all my life. I was a fast bowler and used to open the bowling and try to take a couple of wickets,” he said.
In the Invitational match, Buckingham had the opportunity to share the new ball with Vanuatu quick Patrick Matautaava. “I absolutely love my cricket and looked forward to this game as cricket brings people together. When I was growing up one of my favourite players was Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie.”
Buckingham managed to shake off a few cobwebs and after he found a way to control the swing even beat the bat of Sri Lankan Weeraratne a few times. Weeraratne went on to score 55 runs.
Buckingham’s side — Infinity Blue lost the match against Infinity Green by 14 runs in a thrilling contest that went all the way to the last over.
He spoke later after the match, “I had a great time today playing at a sensational ground with an amazing group of players. Really like the direction Infinity Cricket is heading in,” he said.
“It is great to have someone like Bucks come down and play here and take some time off his busy schedule. I’ve known him since our high-school days and we used to play cricket, so it was great to catch up again at this match. These are the sort of experiences we want to provide and change the way the game is played and consumed at the grass-roots level,” said Navneet Ganesh, founder of Infinity Cricket.
The match featured DJ Rewind, one of the rising stars in the local Club circuit – as well as professional cheer leaders adding to the carnival style atmosphere.
Infinity Cricket organizes Summer & Winter T20 tournaments in Melbourne. In 2013, there were 44 teams and over 650 participants that took part.
Website: www.infinityt20cricket.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/infinitycricket
Twitter: www.twitter.com/infinitycricket
Published in The Indian Sun (Indian Magazine in Australia)
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