A few days after the war began on 2 March, I messaged Ahmed, a fellow cricketer, to check whether he was safe. He responded by inviting me to play with them that weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cricket never stops,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s part of our Sunday routine.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Kelum Ruwan Pathirana, a Sri Lankan known for his elegant style of play, takes his place in front of the wicket. March 8, 2026. Beirut, Lebanon. Photo courtesy of Ali Abbas Ahmadi. <\/p>\n
On Easter Sunday, Israeli forces launched several attacks across Beirut, killing at least 39 people<\/a>. The strikes in Chiyah and Ghobeiry were a few kilometers away from the cricket ground; earlier strikes in Basta and Bachoura were a mere five-minute walk away.<\/p>\n Ahmed, who hails from Pakistan and has been in Lebanon for the past ten years, said he heard explosions while playing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat could we do?\u201d he said when I asked him how they reacted. \u201cWe continued playing till the evening and went home afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time the cricketers have played during a conflict. Even in 2024, during Israel\u2019s war on Lebanon, the players continued to show up.<\/p>\n Like many others, the players are attempting to continue with their normal lives during the war. Bars and restaurants in neighbourhoods like Mar Mikhail and Gemmyze, less than a kilometre from the ground, are full.<\/p>\n Sugath Priyantha Fernando, a 53-year-old Sri Lankan who organises the matches, is one of the senior-most players at this ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been here since 1996, and I have faced three or four wars,\u201d he said. He recalled an incident from early 2025, while playing a match on a different ground closer to Dahieh, Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, where Israel has focused its strikes under the pretext that the residential area is a \u201cHezbollah stronghold.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce the match finished, both teams were standing, and we wanted to have a picture. As soon as we stood for it, a strike hit right behind us. Maybe a few hundred metres away.\u201d<\/p>\n Fernando explained that the players have grown accustomed to the constant bombs and violence. They came to Lebanon for work opportunities, or were passing through on the way to Europe, but ended up staying. Most have been here for over a decade, living through the Israel-Hezbollah wars of 2006 and 2024, Israel\u2019s near-daily bombing campaign in 2025, and now the war in 2026.<\/p>\n The parking lot they play on is wedged between the Universit\u00e9 Saint-Joseph and St. Joseph\u2019s church \u2014 an upscale Christian neighbourhood that has thus far been largely untouched by the violence.<\/p>\n Like many others, the players are attempting to continue with their normal lives during the war.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s war adheres to sectarian lines, with its focus on Lebanon\u2019s Shiite population, whose support for Hezbollah\u2019s arsenal, due to its deterrence capabilities, has rendered them indiscriminate targets. Airstrikes have flattened parts of South Lebanon, Dahieh, and the Bekaa, all regions predominantly inhabited by Shias.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s defence minister has said<\/a> they may not be allowed to return.<\/p>\n Christian areas like Ashrafieh have been largely spared, but not unconditionally \u2014 Israel has warned Christians<\/a> to expel Shias from their neighborhoods and not shelter them, or else they face the same fate.<\/p>\n This pressure is exploiting existing fault lines between the sects, with growing fears that it could foment civil unrest<\/a>.<\/p>\n Majid Satti prepares to hit a shot during a match. February 1, 2026. Beirut, Lebanon. Photo courtesy of Ali Abbas Ahmadi.<\/p>\n Like other Beirutis, Fernando and the rest of the players have learned to read the city during a conflict, avoiding areas that are frequently targeted. Having experienced several conflicts where Israeli forces have bombarded Beirut, the Lebanese implicitly understand the pattern of Israeli strikes to protect themselves by delineating where, when, and how aggressively they may attack different parts of the city.<\/p>\n But that calculation has shifted, especially since 8 April\u2019s widespread strikes when Israel hit all parts of the city, including areas they had never targeted before.<\/p>\n Still, the players think cricket is worth the risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThey love to come to this place, you know, just to see each other, have a cup of tea together, to chit-chat, that sort of thing,\u201d Fernando said.<\/p>\n For the players on the pitch, cricket isn\u2019t just a pastime. It is their most sacred ritual, the only thing worth spending their weekly day off on. It\u2019s a connection to home, to the streets and villages where they played as children.<\/p>\n In India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, cricket is a religion. They have brought that with them, turning this corner of Beirut into a pocket of South Asia. Indians and Pakistanis share the same ground, wear the same jerseys, and have the same arguments over strategy – two nationalities whose nuclear-armed governments have fought wars and traded insults, finding community in a Lebanese parking lot.<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t just the men who play every week. Women from different migrant communities – including from countries where cricket is not typically popular – play earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n Like other Beirutis, Fernando and the rest of the players have learned to read the city during a conflict, avoiding areas that are frequently targeted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got Sri Lankans, Filipinas, Ethiopians, and Liberians; they play cricket with us. The women have like 12 teams,\u201d Fernando said.<\/p>\n The matches are held with the blessing of St. Joseph\u2019s church, which opens the space to the players and their families every weekend.<\/p>\n They have been held in this parking lot since the 1990s, but the players lost access to it for a few years in the mid-2010s. The ground was eventually returned to them in 2022 with the help of Father Richard Pichai, of the Society of Jesus, a Sri Lankan priest who, until recently, served at St Joseph\u2019s church.<\/p>\n \u201cThe migrants work hard all six days of the week. When they get back on the ground, their problems are solved. They mingle with other families from different countries and build beautiful relationships,\u201d Father Pichai remarked.<\/p>\n It\u2019s definitely an odd scene: Lebanese churchgoers coming for mass, walking past South Asian men in bright jerseys emblazoned with \u2018Lebanon Super Kings\u2019 or \u2018Beirut Blasters,\u2019 teams named after Indian Premier League franchises.<\/p>\n Fernando\u2019s team is called St Joseph\u2019s, in honour of their host.<\/p>\n The church\u2019s relationship with the players runs deeper than just a shared parking lot. It is currently sheltering people displaced by Israel\u2019s war, some of whom are migrants from other communities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe church even requested us to teach cricket to some of the people who are stuck in the shelter. [\u2026] They\u2019re young boys, 10, 12, 13 years old,\u201d said Fernando.<\/p>\n Stranded for weeks on end with little to do and nowhere to go, Fernando said cricket can give the children an outlet to burn off energy and take their minds off the war.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have some African boys who had never played, but they were energetic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Majid Satti, 42, plays for 11 Brothers, a team of players from both India and Pakistan that have been champions for the past several years.<\/p>\n He laughed when I told him he had a reputation as one of the best players, recounting a time he was hit all around the ground as an opponent scored freely on every ball he bowled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all depends on your form,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re in form, then you play well. If not, then you\u2019re nothing!\u201d<\/p>\n Satti was on the ground on Easter Sunday when Israeli forces attacked several locations across the city.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were playing, we saw a lot of [Israeli] planes circling above us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was telling the others that they must think we are insane – there\u2019s a war going on, and these guys are playing!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like [the Israelis] are not going to hit where mostly Christians are living. [\u2026] We feel safe, especially in the north side of Beirut and the mountain areas,\u201d Fernando said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSCF4265_724166.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
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