Slips, slides and skaters at Ice Cricket World Cup

By Patrick Lannin

RIGA (Reuters Life!) - Global warming wrecked the field, the umpire couldn't keep his feet and pirouetting skaters added a surreal touch but nothing could stop this year's World Cup...for Ice Cricket.

An international cast of players from Britain, Ireland, India and Australia scampered, slid and batted with some care on a pitch set up for cricket in an arena in the Latvian capital.

Unseasonably warm weather forced organizers to move the contest off the Latvian lakes for safety reasons.

But that hasn't done anything to stifle the hilarity of seeing a summer game for England's green and pleasant land being played on a pitch of ice.

"It is a bit mad to be honest with you and it's extremely cold. I would not recommend it for the feeble or the weak," said Justin Cullen, 42, a chemist from Dublin.

Ten teams will scramble after the bright orange ball, attempt to knock it for six while batting and to make it to the wickets without crash landing when they need to run.

"It is quite difficult and it is very slippery. You think you have the ball and it isn't there, it just goes through your fingers," Cullen said.

The wickets looked strange standing on an ice rink, and bordered on the surreal when a skater began pirouetting between them during a break in the cricket.