Cricket. It is an insect that is related to grasshoppers. But unlike its relative, a cricket has shorter legs. You can hear its musical chirping sound usually at night time, which can be a little annoying if you don't appreciate its sound especially when the silence is deafening and all you can hear is the noise of the cricket.
But this post is not about that insect. I want to talk about cricket as sports. As I mentioned in my posts, Bring Back Live Sports TV Again, and Who Loves Volleyball? I Do!!!, cricket is one of my favourite sports. I don't play it, but I love watching it on TV. I used to play backyard cricket with my husband just for the fun of it. I prefer batting than bowling (I think that's quite common among those who love playing cricket).
My relatives and friends in Australia are quite surprised that I actually like the sport because they have lived all their lives here but some of them still don't understand cricket and how it is played. They find it boring and tedious. On the other hand, I find it exciting and I can watch a Test Cricket religiously, provided that Australian team are playing, for 5 straight days from the first ball to "stumps" at the end of each day. Just imagine that a Test Match is played for 5 consecutive days, and each day's play lasts for 7 hours, including their lunch, tea and drinks breaks, and at least 90 overs bowled per day.
An "over" has at least 6 legitimate bowling deliveries. So let's say that in every over, 6 bowling deliveries are legitimate, multiplied by 90, the batting team will have faced 540 balls in total. And that's a lot. I can understand that it can be pretty boring to watch as I used to think that way when I first came to Australia. I didn't understand the sport at all. It's nothing like baseball, but now I think baseball is more boring compared to cricket. (Please, each to their own. I know that some of you may be huge baseball fans.)
Then, there's also One Day International (with a maximum of 50 overs per innings) and Twenty20 Cricket (with a maximum of 20 overs per innings). These are played for only one day; hence, a shorter and more fun version of cricket.
I know the names and the faces of most of the test cricketers from Australia, New Zealand, England, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Of course, I support Australia. I celebrate when Australia get a wicket (when they're bowling) or when they hit boundaries (when they're batting). That's how I love this sport so much.
"How has your love for cricket started in the first place?"
I am always asked this question by a lot of people.
Well, my husband loves the sport. He used to play for a local cricket club for many years up until 2009, the year before we met for the first time. As I was cleaning our rumpus room, I found his "cricket yearbook 2008-2009" and read that he was actually named "Man of the Match," because he batted and scored 98 runs not-out. I felt really proud of him whilst reading that and browsing all the pages of that book. If he were still playing until now, I would always watch his games all day.
In that yearbook, my husband, John, was described as one of the most dangerous players in the competition when firing on all cylinders. They said that he showed brilliance throughout the season with bat and ball. And that 98* runs not-out that John scored, they said, was a sight to behold and even his bowling deliveries were just unplayable.
The picture on the left is the caricature that his teammates drew to describe his flexibility and athleticism. It's quite funny!
So, obviously, because of his love and passion for the sport, John had to introduce me to cricket, which I had never heard of. I had always thought cricket was just an insect until I came to understand the mechanics of the game by watching it with my husband. I, myself, could not also believe that I would be interested in it. I guess because I love my husband so much that I have learnt to appreciate the sport. Probably the same way that I love volleyball, and I was able to convince him to play for my team for one season. My husband played volleyball with me until he injured himself and could not play halfway through the end of that season, but at least he tried.
John and I would also have conversations about cricket or any news about players and the sport itself. I think he appreciates the fact that he can talk about anything with me that he's also passionate about and I would gladly listen to and even contribute to the conversation.
Just like the incident back in 2018, when three Australian players - captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft - were involved in ball-tampering scandal, which has since been dubbed as "sandpapergate", John and I were both disgusted and devastated by the news. We talked about it for days how utterly disappointed we were because they tarnished the reputation and the credibility of the Australian Cricket Team. The team were top 1 at the time but after the incident, their rank in the cricket world plummeted. Those three involved were suspended for a year, and since then I would consider it a miracle if the Australian team would win a test match against other nations. Then after a long drought, when Australia won against India for the first time since the incident, of course, John and I celebrated!!!
I could go on and on about all things cricket, but I just want to share with you how much I love and how much I am passionate about the sport. I just hope that the coronavirus will die down soon, and so we can watch live sports TV again because I really miss watching live test crickets and not just the replays anymore.
Top Image Source - Cricket Ball
All photos are my own unless otherwise stated.
