T20 Cricket World Cup

The most interesting aspect of living in Singapore is that I am much closer to so many interesting Asian destinations. I've already been to Penang and am flying to Langkawi for the upcoming weekend. Bali and Vietnam are two more spots I'll be visiting this year. Of course, there's no interesting sports to watch in those places, but lots of outdoor activities to keep busy.

But this blog is not about my personal life, rather I hope to encourage others to travel with sports the catalyst to get them thinking about all the possibilities, not only in North America, but worldwide. With social media giving all of us the opportunity to brag endlessly about our trivial lives (myself included), I've noticed how Americans are quite impressed with themselves just for seeing their own country. I love the US for the variety of available sports as well as the ease of getting from place to place, but there's a whole world out there that most Americans rarely consider for a new sporting experience. I'm hoping this blog has demonstrated that sports is truly a worldwide pursuit and with my move to Southeast Asia, I will be looking for events that will get me on an airplane to somewhere new and exciting.

With Singapore just a short flight from India, cricket is now much higher on my radar. I've already seen the Ashes in Australia and county cricket in England, but haven't seen an international tournament yet. So I was very happy to discover that the Twenty20 World Cup is being held in Sri Lanka in September and October. The island nation is just 3 1/2 hours from Singapore and flights are surprisingly affordable, as are match tickets. So I've booked myself a weekend trip to Colombo at the end of September, where I will see three matches in the Super Eights, which is the second round of the competition and should feature the better squads such as Australia, South Africa, and India.

Twenty20 is a relatively new form of the game where each team has just 20 overs (120 balls) to score as many runs as possible. I've never seen it live before and there's no better place to start than a world championship. Of course, to see it in a country I've yet to visit makes the whole thing doubly interesting. Check back in October for a recap of what should be a very different sports road trip.

Best,

Sean