It was 4pm - a light breeze, not too hot, convivial company and a battle between NZ and the Aussies! The little gem which is Pukekura Park in New Plymouth was hosting the third and final T20 match between the White Ferns and the Southern Stars. A taste of heaven on earth!
But Perhaps the team names are unfamiliar because they belong to the women's cricket teams, the equivalent of the 'Black Caps' and the 'Baggy Greens'[ one way of describing the Aussies - but it really relates to the Test side].
We [ the White Ferns] were already 2-0 up in the series so this was a 'dead rubber' - but it gave several women the chance to gain experience in the cauldron of international cricket before they all head off to the World Cup in India in a couple of weeks time. [No - it's not just the men's teams competing at the T20 - there are ten women's cricket teams as well and Australia and New Zealand women will meet again in pool play.]
It was an idyllic three hours [ apart from the result - we were 20 runs short of the Aussie total, so we lost] and we are reminded how fortunate we are to be able to watch cricket in such a superb setting.
After we went home, though, I started to think about inequality - the way, even in developed countries, systemic sexism continues. These women cricketers train hard, have high skill levels, provide an entertaining game to watch and are healthy role models for young women. Yet their public profile and their remuneration cannot compare with those of their male counterparts.
Far worse examples of inequity exist in other countries of course. Countless women remain no more than chattels, or are powerless to find a way through embedded cultural practices which put them and their girl-children at risk. But there is hope : one pathway to equality is via education when it is made available to girls. Another developing pathway is through sport, and the impending Olympic games will remind us again of the opportunities sport can offer to increase gender equality around the world.
Perhaps seeing the emergence of women's sports teams at the T20 World Cup and the Olympics will give disadvantaged women some hope.
Perhaps our women will make connections with others around the world and be blessed by knowing they are doing their part in building freedom for women, even if it is one small step at a time.
And perhaps we will pay more attention to the radical equality that permeates the New Testament. After all, Jesus shattered cultural and religious rules, suffered ridicule, resentment and ultimately death, because he drew the marginalised closer and gave the women he met the power to live as full human beings. Good news indeed.
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