Cricket Match between New South Wales vs. Tasmania

The Moore Park Pitch and one more reason to purchase sunglasses.

It may have taken a lot of planning, but I finally went to watch Cricket. My friend wanted to show me how sports are played in the Commonwealth, so we headed down to the pitch on Saturday.

To get to the Moore Park Pitch, we boarded the Light Rail at Central Station. Paying for a Light Rail “ticket” is extremely simple. You can pay using an Opal Card, RFID enabled credit card, or an electronic payment system like Apple Wallet or Samsung Pay. Each platform will have two or more “Tap on” Points where you can hold your phone or credit card against an electronic sensor to pay your fare. Some, but not all, platforms have Opal Card machines. These Big Blue machines can convert Australian dollars into an RFID enabled transportation card. These Opal Cards are accepted on all Sydney Mass Transit mediums. Once you arrive at your destination, just “Tap off” by holding your original payment method against the pole mounted RFID scanner. This allows the New South Wales Government to measure the length of your trip and bill you accordingly. By consistently using the same Opal Card, physical Credit Card, or E-Payment type, you can travel cheaply within Sydney.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know that at the time. When my friend and I boarded the light rail at Central Station I tapped on with my Physical Credit Card. This journey was about 20 minutes long. My friend and I got off the train at the cricket pitch, and I tapped off using Apple Pay. This was a mistake. Even though my physical credit card is identical to my Apple Pay Card, the New South Wales Transit system cannot recognize that they are the same. According to the light rail system, I got onboard at Central Station and never “tapped off” at the end of my journey. In this situation, you will be billed for the maximum possible

fare. The Light Rail lines are relatively long, and we had only traveled on 30% of the line. Paying for a full trip was about $3.00 USD.

The Moore Park Station is about 300 meters from the Cricket Pitch. While we walked, I discussed Cricket with my new friend. Honestly, he spent most of the time explaining how the game worked and I spent most of the walk sweating.

We watched the game from a shady seat for about 3 hours, and even though I understood almost none of it, I enjoyed seeing something new. This game was “Test Cricket”, and the players were semi-professionals. The lower decks of the stadium were at approximately 5% capacity, so it was far from the raucous energy of a

Rugby Match.

Alcohol is sold at sporting events, and sports betting is quite common. To quote the New South Wales Government, “Know when to stop, don’t go over the top”.

Feel free to explore any of the hyperlinked words for more stories from my Semester abroad!