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WHAT?!! Cricket on ICE?!!!

November 12, 2017 11:42 IST

For sheer quirkiness, few sporting events can beat cricket played on the frozen lake at the Swiss resort of St Moritz.

IMAGE: A game of cricket being played on the frozen lake in St Moritz. Photograph: Kind courtesy St Moritz Tourism Board

Cricketing greats Virender Sehwag, Jacques Kallis, Michael Hussey and Mahela Jayawardene among others are all set to relive their past battles.

This time around, they will play each other on ice... yes you heard it right!

 

A new form of Twenty20 cricket is set to be launched in the picturesque Swiss resort of St Moritz.

Sehwag, Mohammad Kaif, Shoaib Akthar, Jayawardene, Lasith Malinga, Kallis, Graeme Smith and Michael Hussey among others will compete on a specially created cricket field on ice in St Moritz, a high Alpine valley resort in Engadin, Switzerland, which is about 5,910 feet above sea level.

IMAGE: A game of cricket being played on the frozen lake in St Moritz. Photograph: Kind courtesy St Moritz Tourism Board

Cricket on Ice is the brainchild of British cricket enthusiasts.

'Testimony to the sports' eccentricity began to take shape in 1988 when a group of intrepid British cricketers challenged the students of the international boarding school Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz to a match,' the organisers stated.

Ranveer Singh

IMAGE: Bollywood star Ranveer Singh takes part in a game in St Moritz earlier this year. Photograph: Kind courtesy Ice Cricket/Twitter

The 22 yard cricket pitch will consist of an artificial turf carpet laid out on the snow field.

Two Twenty20 games will be played here on February 8 and 9.

St Moritz has hosted the Winter Olympics twice. It also has the Cresta Run, a world championship bobsled run made of natural ice, and an outdoor Olympic ice rink.

Along with cricket, the frozen lake hosts polo and even horse racing on ice.

Rediff Cricket