It's the day after the Superbowl and what a more appropriate topic to talk about than... cricket!
My latest sporting obsession more than merits my attention and has it more so than some silly gridiron (a way cooler name for our own sport) game. I have a few things to talk about with cricket today, mostly just my casual observations made in the last several months. I'm still very much a cricket newbie and I've been told that it takes years to truly appreciate the game. After paying attention and following closely all of the action out of Australia I can say I completely agree. There are nuances to the game I still don't get but at least I know what is going on and what the teams are trying to accomplish.
The basic theme of cricket is very simple. The variation on that theme is great which is why cricket seems so hard to understand when standing outside looking in. Three forms of the game based on the amount of overs drastically change the way the teams play the game. I'm not quite to the point of my fandom that I can try to figure out what the fielders are doing. I know that based on the situation the teams position themselves either to prevent runs or to take wickets. Test cricket is five days and unlimited overs, which means the strategy has to be a long one. The focus is on taking wickets and the play is very defensive, unless I've read the game wrong which is possible. In the limited over format the aim appears to be preventing runs. Again I could be wrong. There are multiple layers to the strategy that I'm simply not aware of yet. I'll get there.
The amount of ball control at the highest levels is simply amazing. The batsmen I watched at The Ashes could do some very skilled things. The ability to simply drop a ball straight to the ground that is coming at you at 60-70 mph is impressive. Credit must be due to anybody that is able to get a good swipe at a ball that, thanks to bounce, could be coming at you from any direction. In baseball we have a small box and players know that's where the ball is going to be pitched. Cricketers have to be ready for anything, hell I saw a ball go behind a player and bounce back in to knock the stumps (that can't be the right way to say that). The only chance I've had at bat was in backyard cricket at Hart's Pub and I was batting against my girlfriend. She bowled me out.
Cricket is exciting, despite what even some of the supporters claim. If the play on the field isn't producing anything worth watching then you can be sure that something is going on in the crowd worth watching. I might be bias as I had only a decisive Ashes test to be at live, but it seems that the fans are a colorful bunch wherever the game is played. The Barmy Army were lively and always loud in a good way. There was something entertaining coming from the larger pockets of Barmy Army people at any time. Perhaps these sorts of crowds are only present at the big matches but to know that fans like that are out there shows the power of the game. One day perhaps I'll be able to understand the play on the field well enough that I can be so wild about the game as the Barmy Army. Maybe.
There's a lot to the game and I'm only getting started. Fortunately I have all the time in the world and a very supportive group of fans following my girlfriend. I've rarely seen groups of fans so passionate about a game as I did for international cricket. There has to be something behind that passion and I am determined to figure it out.I'm going to learn the depths of this game out if it takes me the rest of my life!
