For me cricket began a few short years ago, back in the days when Channel 4 used to have more than just Big Brother! I was flicking through channels on a rainy day and stopped to try and figure out what was going on. Everyone was wearing white - I couldn't even tell which guys were on the same team!!! The score seemed ridiculous – how could one of the teams only have 4 points when the others had a couple of hundred. And worst of all – the commentators sounded like they weren’t watching the game!!!!!!!
Still though, there was something hypnotic about it. Minutes where nothing seemed to be happening followed by a flurry of activity resulting in ...... a nice cracky sound of bat on ball; a couple of OOHS from the crowd and the players; and (possibly) a knowledgeable remark from the commentator along the lines of "Lovely ball, shaping away nicely". None of which meant anything to me … I was aware of cricket in the same way that I was aware of Liberia – heard of it, but there was no reason for me to go there.
I gave it a few minutes to see if anything was going to happen, and was about to turn away when BAM … a cricketing obsession was born. The batsman played the cheekiest shot I could have imagined – down on one knee and tickling the ball just passed his back to let it speed away to the rope. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew I liked it!
It took a while for this obsession to grow – but before long I’d found a promising looking piece of wood to be my bat; a trusty bucket for my stumps; and some semi-willing volunteers to peg a taped-up tennis ball at me …. Happy days!
Now I’m here looking back on my first full season as a club cricketer, and really looking forward to the next 7 months of socially acceptable obsession. It’s been a slightly bumpy start, with nets being snatched from my grasp twice from their original start of January 24th. But it’s only heightening the tension for the arrival of the 21st February when I stare down that net at a trembling batsman, flipping the ball from hand to hand – spring into my run-up like a lithe cheetah – gather – leap – and unleash the year’s first wide ….. well, it’s a start!
2 comments:
Brilliant - I love it! I love the way you got into it and the fact that you're virtually in the same situation as me! Tomorrow is my first game of the season. I joined my club last year towards the end of the season and played a handful of games. I don't know if you feel like me and I don't know how old you are as that makes a bit of a difference - but I felt like a bit of an intruder - some of the people I play cricket with have done it all their lives and there I was like you having just decided that I wanted to play and foisted myself on my club. They accepted me despite how crap I was, but they want to win and I just felt there must be people that are so much better than me out there I felt like I was undeserving of the place on the team. I now realise that it takes quite a bit of commitment to just be a member of a team - money and time etc and that people might like the idea of playing in a team but when it comes to doing it every weekend lots fall by the wayside and that's a problem for teams?
Good blog - keep it going!
Dave
True out Dave.
I'm 24, so I was nearly 23 when I started playing cricket. Certainly the vast majority or lads there had been playing it all through school - so I did feel a bit of an intruder initially (which is why I put off joining a club for so long in the first place). Some clubs, I'm sure, would be of the opinion that if you and "every male member of your family for 5 generations" didn't play cricket then you're not worth the time of day. But this attitude isn't as prevalent as I thought before I actually joined a club.
Definitely, most places are happy to take on enthusiastic guys like ourselves who are still chasing the ball when all the "real" cricketers have given up on the game :)
Keep up the good work yourself,
Ed
Post a Comment