Is Cricket Boring

This summer (year 2000) the English side (Scotland have their own cricket team) which is known as the MCC (MaryleboneCricketClub) have been playing the West Indies. They played 5 Test Matches, which are five day matches starting on a Thursday. There used to be a rest day on Sunday, but not now.

Cricket matches can finish early, or end in a draw if the match is not completed. Often in England time is lost because if it rains or the light is poor, the cricket cannot continue.

England won the penultimate match in two days, which was more or less unheard of , and wrecked the TV schedules for the channel showing the match.

England went into the last match leading 2-1 with one to play, having not won a series against the West Indies since 1969.

The last match finished yesterday. England won on the last afternoon, and the cricket ground (The Oval, London) was full on the last day.

Part of the fun of cricket is that you cannot predict when the critical moments will come, and in the meantime there is a battle for the initiative between the batting side and the bowling side.

-- JohnFletcher

Cricket is not EnglishOrBritish. It started there, but these days it's a commonwealth sport played throughout the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and every other beknighted spot on the planet. Indeed the greatest knighted cricketer isn't British nor fond of 'em - Sir Don Bradman is his name.

As to whether the stuff is boring, it is if you watch it wrong. To watch it right what you do is leave it on in the background and check it every hour or so to see how it's going. If something's happening then you spend a few minutes to see how it turns out. The correct protocol makes of the game a thrilling, nail-biting epic between titans of Homeric stature. Watching cricket progress moment to moment just isn't what's intended, unless you happen to be particularly pedantic or slow of mind. It'd be like watching Odysseus spending days becalmed, or Achilles getting his pedicure.

That said, cricket can still be boring if the players have no sense of fun. But even the dullest cricket match is more exciting than baseball, which is only entertaining to gamblers. -- PeterMerel

: I find baseball quite entertaining. The game itself is dull, but those hunky guys and their tight uniforms... Woof!

[While Americans and others do gamble on baseball; football and basketball are better sports for wagering. And don't forget that baseball is an international sport, too - while not popular in much of the Old World, it's popular all throughout the Americas and much of Asia as well. It ain't just a sport for yankees]

Test cricket can be watched for hours with the right players and the right attitude. What may seem uneventful to the casual observer is often an intense battle of will, tactics and talent between a batsman, and the bowler and captain of the fielding team. If you walk away from the TV and just wander in to check the scores, or when you hear a wicket fall, you lose all of the subtleties that make the game. Of course, you're not supposed to pay attention the whole five days, but if you don't put in a few long spells, you may as well have just read the result in the paper.

The pyjama game can be watched from start to finish, but only in the spirit it was invented - with loud company and a lot of beer.

This is generally how cricket is viewed as well, although some still prefer a glass of Pimm's instead of beer.

I used to be that the best way to follow a test match was to have the TV switched on with the volume down whilst listening to the Test Match Special commentary on Radio 4 (or the World Service if that was unavailable).

That used to be the case when the BBC TV commentators rarely said anything. Since the TV coverage has been taken on by Channel 4 there is a great deal more to see in the way of analysis of what is going on. In recent days they have been comparing the way the same batsman got out in different matches, or comparing the bowling actions of different bowlers. The only snags are the adverts and the occasional breaks for horse racing on Sunday afternoons.

-- JohnFletcher

Cricket above all is a social game. It is supposed to be played on the village green with a pint of beer afterwards. Although it has been some years since the the GentlemenVsPlayers? debate was raging most cricketers in England and the SubContinent see the game as social.

From many years of living next to a cricket green I would say that one of the important points about the game is the time it gives the spectators to sample a number of pints of beer. Also the mid game lunch can often involve a number of bottles of Port, making the second half quite interesting to watch. I've always found having a game of Cricket going on in the background when you are having a pleasant meal is very relaxing.

: "The game you know as cricket," [Slartibartfast] said, and his voice still seemed to be wandering lost in subterranean passages, "is just one of those curious freaks of racial memory which can keep images alive in the mind aeons after their true significance has been lost in the mists of time. Of all the races on the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to sunder the Universe and transform it into what I'm afraid is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game.
: "Rather fond of it myself," he added, "but in most people's eyes you have been inadvertently guilty of the most grotesque bad taste. Particularly the bit about the little red ball hitting the wicket, that's very nasty."

-- DouglasAdams, LifeTheUniverseAndEverything

Note: cricket is not to be confused with Brockian Ultra Cricket(*). Unless you had to play cricket at school, after taking off your glasses.

(*) A curious game which involves suddenly hitting people for no readily apparent reason and then running away. -- DouglasAdams, LifeTheUniverseAndEverything

: Although it may just be the media blowing up a couple of incidents, this seems to have entered modern life as "Happy Slapping". The name seems on par with "Joy Riding", which in truth means stealing a car and committing lots of offences.

Note that Cricket is not such a major thing in England, compared to association football. It probably ranks about the 4th or 5th sport. But it is the biggest in India and Pakistan, and therefore, probably, one of the world's biggest sports in terms of numbers of fans. it probably ranks at least 3rd now we are doing well at it again (football and rugby union being probably more popular)

If you find { Cricket | Baseball | ( { Association | American | Canadian | (Australian Rules) | Rugby } Football) | Basketball | ( { Ice | Field | Floor } Hockey ) | Golf | Tennis | Ping-pong | (Team Handball) | ( { Indy | NASCAR | F1 | Dragster | Horse | Greyhound } Racing) | ... } boring, then don't watch or participate. I find some of those boring, others not so. I'm not going to tell you which, as I ain't gonna debate the merits of baseball vs cricket vs soccer vs American football vs whatever-else here on Wiki.

(Actually, I'd pay money to see a Greyhound race. Not the dogs. The busses.)

And now the way cricket should be played, from the safety and comfort of the gaming platform of your choice http://www.easports.co.uk/products.view.asp?id=6728 A good way to get to know the game for those not yet acquainted.

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