With lions lurking in the long grass, the barefoot Maasai warrior gallops into a sprint and swings his spear arm — delivering a fast-paced cricket ball straight at the wicket.
Dressed in flowing red skirts and draped in colorful bead necklaces, the warriors from the legendary Kenyan tribe are one of the world’s most unusual and unlikely cricketing teams. The Maasai team is raising awareness of key issues that their community faces.
They visit schools to talk about AIDS prevention, early marriage, gender equality, environmental protection and battling alcoholism and drug addiction.
School children turn up to watch the game here, while entertainment on the sidelines and during breaks in the game include simple dramas and songs focusing on HIV awareness. Tents alongside the grounds also offer HIV tests encouraging people to get tested to know their status.
Another key issue that the cricketers can flag is the impact rampant poaching is having on wildlife.
“It is a sport that at first seemed very strange to us,” said Robert Kilesi Piroris, 28, Maasai warrior and cricket player.
“But today the game brings us and the community together, and we love it,” he added, speaking as he waited to bat in a friendly match, on a pitch mown out of the rolling grass savannah of northern Kenya, with giraffe strolling past in the distance.
It is doubtful you could find a place more different from the birthplace of the sport on the manicured grass of Britain’s famous Lord’s Cricket Ground.
But that is exactly where the Maasai hope to go, after they were invited to join an international competition at the renowned field in August.
“We can show the world that we may look different to those dressed in cricket whites but can still play the game,” said captain Sonyanga Ole Ngais.
Freddie Grounds, a major in the British army which trains troops in the Laikipia region of Kenya, joined in the match to make up numbers on a visiting Indian team playing against the Maasai.
“It’s an amazing experience and sight to see them play here,” said Grounds, but added that it would be nothing compared to the sight of the warriors playing at Lord’s.
