Cricketing Spider Monkeys hope to be first among Last Men Standing

SBS World News Radio: Cricketing Spider Monkeys hope to be first among Last Men Standing

Cricketing Spider Monkeys hope to be first among Last Men StandingCricketing Spider Monkeys hope to be first among Last Men Standing

Cricketing Spider Monkeys hope to be first among Last Men Standing

It started as a few friends of Lebanese heritage playing a game of cricket.

Now, members of a team known as the Spider Monkeys are on the verge of representing Australia later this year.

The Last Man Standing competiton is a shortened form of the game and it's helping bring together people of diverse cultures.

It's cricket like you've never seen it before.

It's even shorter than the shortest version played by the professionals, the Twenty20 format.

There are eight players on each side, five-ball overs and, as the Last Man Standing name suggests, the last man bats on alone until he is dismissed.

The Spider Monkeys began in 2009 and the team's founder, Mohammad Hammoud, says the players love the fact it only lasts two hours.

It means they can have fun, but Hammoud says they also have enough time with their familes.

"That's one of the most appealing aspects of it. We don't have to stay four or five hours in the field and wait until next week to bat and then get dismissed and wait another four hours until the game's over!"

The original members of the Spider Monkeys were all from Lebanese backgrounds.

But the welcome mat now extends to many of Sydney's other multicultural groups.

Ziad Abbas is one of the clubs strongest performers with both bat and ball.

"Yeah we've got Turkish, Indian, Greek, we've got a few Aussie guys that fill in, they're the odd ones out. It's all community spirit involved - whenever you're short you get to know the players from the other teams."

The Spider Monkeys won the 2016 Newcastle Open and there's a huge prize awaiting if they can retain the title in a few weeks' time.

The team will have almost earned enough points in the Last Man Standing rankings to qualify for December's World Cup.

It would be rich reward for their efforts, says one of the team's founder members, Hussen Hijazi.

"We train hard, we play hard and, on top of all that, we're a tight-knit bunch of boys. So just to travel to South Africa together would mean the world."

The sport may be an amateur concept but top names sometimes do drop down, such as England bowler Monty Panesar.

He was once playing club cricket in Australia in time off from County Cricket in the United Kingdom, and he won't forget his brush with the Spider Monkeys.

Ziad Abbas explains why.

"I came in and the first three balls I faced, I hit him over the fence for six, (all) in a row, so he says to me, 'Only you and Adam Gilchrist have done that to me!' So that's my 15 seconds of fame."

 

 






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