A passel of friends, some of them straight from work, are bringing Friday night to a thwacking close. They are sending a tennis ball, pressed into cricket duty tonight, packing around the playground on South Canal Bank Road.
For passersby that have never hoofed around the playground, it is just another Greater Chennai Corporation-maintained facility. For successive generations of youth that have tried out Dhoni’s iconic helicopter shot or chopped like Messi, this rectangular piece of earth is hallowed ground: and they call it “Alphonsa playground”.
Back to the game bearing all the marks of a friendly tussle. These friends have made game inventive and pared to the minimum. The bowlers have one stump to aim at. Each side falls noticeably short of the standard count of eleven. With such numbers, a fielding side can cover only one-fourth of a regular cricket ground. With the ground divided among many matches, that is all a fielding side need and can cover. And even a four-a-side match works just fine.
At the GCC playground on South Canal Bank Road in Mandaveli. | Photo Credit: PRINCE FREDERICK
Despite the limitations, almost all the shibboleths of cricket — modern-day cricket — are on display, bright display. One of them is the defiance of the natural order of light and darkness. The ground is doused in generous floodlights, thanks largely to two high-mast lamps, each parked on an extreme end of the playground for maximum coverage. Other lights mark the outer bounds of the ground.
Habitues remark the powerful lighting is the highlight of the playground. They add the lights stay on till the wee hours of the day. And knots of cricket and football enthusiasts make the most of it with game after game of their favourite sport in their corner, unmarked but clearly distinguished from the rest of the ground.
The GCC playground on St. Mary’s Road, probably close to two kilometres away, and this one together serve two vast zones contiguous with one another. Notable areas in these zones include Mylapore, Mandavelipakkam, RA Puram, Alwarpet, Foreshore Estate, MRC Nagar, Adyar, Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur. And of course, residents from beyond these zones also extend their patronage to it.
By virtue of being more centrally located, in addition to hosting sports enthusiasts from Mandaveli and Mylapore, the South Canal Bank Road playground also draws in great numbers those from Foreshore Estate, Adyar, Besant Nagar and even Thiruvanmiyur. The ground is located on the section of South Canal Bank Road that is just a whistle away from Santhome High Road and Marina Loop Road. Thanks to its coordinates, it serves sports enthusiasts on two sides of the arterial Santhome High Road; and beyond too.
