A few colleagues at work are aghast that I’m not a cricket fan, I love team sports, sunshine and cold libations. The thing is I have no affinity with the sport mainly because I never played it as a kid and my old man (who I get the majority of my sporting leanings from) isn’t a massive fan. The thing is people really seem to love it and I’m not sure why; I was bang into the Ashes in 2005 but it just didn’t stick.

I get the ball goes pretty quick and hitting a six is presumably very difficult but if you compare it to rugby union, with the physicality etc, I can’t see how it is even in the same league. I’m guessing a part of it is the experience of sitting in the nice weather, relaxing and enjoying your surroundings- as well as the skill of the players.

I’m being broken in easily and being taken to a T20 game,which I’m told will gratify my lust for action so we’ll see but if anyone can send me off in the right mindset I’d be greatly appreciative.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 18:08 by yukon.

Quote:

yukon
A few colleagues at work are aghast that I’m not a cricket fan, I love team sports, sunshine and cold libations. The thing is I have no affinity with the sport mainly because I never played it as a kid and my old man (who I get the majority of my sporting leanings from) isn’t a massive fan. The thing is people really seem to love it and I’m not sure why; I was bang into the Ashes in 2005 but it just didn’t stick.
I get the ball goes pretty quick and hitting a six is presumably very difficult but if you compare it to rugby union, with the physicality etc, I can’t see how it is even in the same league. I’m guessing a part of it is the experience of sitting in the nice weather, relaxing and enjoying your surroundings- as well as the skill of the players.

I’m being broken in easily and being taken to a T20 game,which I’m told will gratify my lust for action so we’ll see but if anyone can send me off in the right mindset I’d be greatly appreciative.

Growing up in Ireland cricket wasn't really a thing, but my dad had played it when he was younger in school, but he played rugby more and becoming a referee later.

So when we got cable television and the ashes was available on channel 4 we watched most of it during the daytime when it was too hot to work on the farm. My dad didn't explain much of the sport to me but i learnt most of what i do know through just watching it. My love of sports with strategic depths outweighed those with much simpler rules like soccer and basketball so I was hooked.

The 2005 ashes was certainly a great jumping off point and come 2007 i was well armed to understand the significance of Ireland beating Pakistan.

I now take an interest in watching Ireland playing cricket whenever i get a chance even though they've been woeful lately.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2018 20:50 by Irish_Shark.

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There are no ants in Antarctica despite the name.

Quote:

Mrs Trellis of North Wales

Does that me you like smoking enough pot to numb an elephant and a plethora of illigetime children large enough to provide reserves for a match day 23!?!

Best holidays I've had have been watching England play cricket abroad (not with the Barmy Army I hasten to add).

I think you have start with the understanding that there are two entirely separate sports, both called cricket and with 90+% of their laws in common.

The long-form game is much more cerebral than the short-form version. Think of it as a siege versus a battle. Four/five day cricket is about trying to out-think the other team, planning ahead, using the conditions to lay traps that may take a while to come to fruition. It's about managing time: do you spend a long time trying to amass a huge score, knowing that it will reduce the amount of time you have to attack the other team - there are trade-offs everywhere and strategy and tactics pretty much dominate. That's not to say that individual skill is not important, but the way the captain uses his/her resources plays a major part in success or otherwise.

50-over and T20, on the other hand, are both pretty much just a slug-fest (especially so in the case of T20). What strategy there is mostly comes down to how does the fielding team stop the batting team from scoring runs?

That's not a value judgement, by the way. If you like test cricket, then you probably watch it with a keen eye for the state of play, the machinations of the captains and so on - you're being the captain yourself, trying to second-guess what they're going to do. It requires a fairly deep understanding of what's going on, so I'm not surprised that many people who come late to cricket can't get on with the long game.

T20 is, let's face it, entirely about watching the sloggers hammer the ball to all corners of the ground. It's 90% a celebration of one aspect of the batters' skill set: a good eye, and devastating power.

The 50-over game is still mostly about rapid scoring, but the extra time does allow for a little more flexibility in tactics - a captain can allow an extra over for a bowling change to work, for example, which he might not risk in T20.

Normal chess vs speed chess, perhaps? The extra time constraints pose their own challenges and not everyone can think on their feet under that sort of pressure.

Like I say, I'm not making any value judgements, I'm just saying that there are at least two entirely different games going under the one name and, just because you may like T20, it doesn't mean that you "ought" to also enjoy Test cricket. (And v.v., of course.)

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Somewhere in the South Stand

I read an article which states distant for test matches is due to the sense of urgency and immediacy that society today demands. That resonates with me quite strongly as, and call me old fashioned, I appreciate that in life nothing good comes quickly and/ or without graft.

I’m looking forward to learning something new.

Have you tried the Tailenders podcast on the BBC? It’s aimed at winning over non-cricket fans although with a bias towards test cricket (Jimmy Anderson is one of the hosts). A regular contributor is a complete cricket novice and they’re tracking his growing appreciation of the game.

Quote:

Yareet
Have you tried the Tailenders podcast on the BBC? It’s aimed at winning over non-cricket fans although with a bias towards test cricket (Jimmy Anderson is one of the hosts). A regular contributor is a complete cricket novice and they’re tracking his growing appreciation of the game.

I’ve cracked on with the first few episodes today- cheers for that, it’s really good

I’m not a big Cricket fan either Yukon, I played at school but only because I played every sport. Rugby, Football and F1 are my sports. Cricket I just can’t get in to; and unlike you my parents are fans but it never came down to me. Just doesn’t do it for me, but maybe I have never given it a chance so will look forward to hearing if you become a convert.

Quote:

yukon

Quote:

Yareet
Have you tried the Tailenders podcast on the BBC? It’s aimed at winning over non-cricket fans although with a bias towards test cricket (Jimmy Anderson is one of the hosts). A regular contributor is a complete cricket novice and they’re tracking his growing appreciation of the game.

I’ve cracked on with the first few episodes today- cheers for that, it’s really good

I’ll look forward to hearing your message on the next pod 😁