A Sunday Cricket Match at Wanderers Stadium

This past Sunday I went to my very first cricket match at Wanderers Stadium in Joburg. A group of our friends planned to go for the SA20 match between the Joburg Super Kings and the Eastern Cape Sunrisers. Although I had no clue what was going on for the first half of the game, the company, the entertainment, and the vibe were on point for a summer afternoon.

What is SA20?

For those who don’t know, the SA20 is part of the Twenty20 cricket franchise which is a shortened game format of cricket. The teams are restricted to a total of 20 “overs” each (which consists of 6 bowls). Typically, matches are completed in 2.5 hours, rather than the typical days-long matches of traditional cricket. Ain’t nobody got time for that. That said, our match lasted from 1:30pm to 5pm. This is the first season of SA20 as it was just established in 2022 by Cricket South Africa. The first official Twenty20 match was hosted in 2003. All six teams of the SA20 are owned by Indian businesses in India.

Please note that I am horrible at understanding sports in general, so please do your own Googling. If you dare repeat this information, be sure to tell people you heard this from an unreliable source (me).

The vibe at a cricket match at Wanderers

The cricket match was much less chaotic than I anticipated. Entering the stadium, we had our tickets printed and the bag search was orderly. We easily found our stadium seating and we got incredibly lucky as our spots were mostly in the shade for the entire match. You can check the percentage of shade in your section when you purchase tickets.

In all, even though at first I didn’t understand what was going on, there was always some action occurring on the field. With some explanation from Wilhelm, I even managed to get a hang of what was happening.

Fans were enthusiastic without being rowdy. At the beginning of the match, the guy seated next to me tried to catch a ball that was heading into our seating area and I got a couple of seconds of fame on the big screen since I was sitting next to him!

That’s me, folks! I’ve never gotten on a screen like this before!

Throughout the match, there were also groups of people doing the wave. During the “whistle for Joburg” calls the stadium buzzed with whistles. I definitely prefer whistles to vuvuzelas, though there was a kid with one in our section.

There was a kiss cam and a dance cam and people were grooving to the music between the sports action.

Bring your own food!

One of the main things that contributed to my positive experience was bringing our own snacks and drinks (non-alcoholic) into the stadium. It made such a difference because we could bring water, some chips, fruit, and other fun snacks.

Even though there were lines for drinks and food, I never felt like it was too bad. As a major potato lover, a friend suggested I get the “chip and dip.” This consists of a cone of chips with several different dips. I tried literally every single dip (honey mustard, onion, sweet chili…) and made an interesting concoction of my own. The chips were the only thing we had to stand in line for, other than a beer when we entered the stadium (which only took about 5 minutes to wait for).

There were also burgers, pizza, donuts, and hotdog stands, as well as gin cocktails for sale along the sides of the stadium. In the stadium seating area, people with soft drinks, crisps, and biltong passed by.

Some Wanderers Stadium Logistics

• Check with the stadium to make sure you can bring a “cooler.” And although the wording may use the word “cooler” don’t bring anything hard box into the stadium. It’s best to bring a backpack or tote bag. Our friends were told they couldn’t bring in metal cans, so be wary of that.
• The Wanderers Stadium had parking. However, it’s a little chaotic with all the people walking on the streets if you choose to do that. We were able to park at a friend’s house nearby, but there was also plenty of street parking available if you don’t mind a 5 to 10-minute walk from the stadium.
• Our match lasted around 3.5 hours and idk how it could have been shortened to 2.5 as suggested for the Twenty20 experience. Budget around 3.5 hours plus more for parking+walking.
• We sat in section BB, row M. It felt like we were really close to the action plus we had shade. I recommend this area.

The Joburg Super Kings dominated the Eastern Cape Sunrisers, so it was fun to watch the team win at home base.

For a nice summer’s day activity with friends, I would definitely recommend going to a cricket match at Wanderers if you haven’t been before.