Why do you love the game?

[Craig]

Meh. Fills in the summer months when there's no football.

I don't know tho, actually. Obviously being English (as opposed to French or American, say) has had a part in it for exposure to the sport at an early age purposes, but quite a lot of English people don't give it the time of day, so it has to be more than that.

The length of the conflict appeals, I have to say. Cricket (and I really mean test cricket here) is a game you inhabit for up to five days at a time. The match ebbs & flows and breathes, one sees battles within battles and often just when a game is drifting there's a moment of magic from a champion player that turns things around & reignites the interest.

The history & respect for tradition appeal to the nostaglic son of Albion in me too; names like Spofforth, Grace, Lohmann or Barnes still have a real meaning for cricket fans that doesn't exist for football fans with association footballers of similar vintage. This is probably in part because cricket is very stats friendly, but also because the game has inspired so much wonderful writing over the years & centuries.

I defiantly agree. I have this fascination with cricketers to that era, to guys like Hobbs and Hedley Veriety, I mean he died more then 40 years before I was born, and yet I see his stats and think he must of been a decent bowler.

 

[andruid]

Bowlers. Nothing more beautiful than watching a bowler on fire repeatedly beating the bat in a Test match.

Ah could not have said it better myself...

 

[stumpski]

Because everyone else at my school was into football, and cricket is about as different as it's possible to get.

Because you can read a book or paper without people thinking you're weird.

Because the spectators don't have to be segregated to stop them stabbing and maiming each other. Some of my most interesting chats have been with opposition supporters.

Because you can have a beer, even if you can't always bring it in with you.

Because of the history and tradition and wealth of reading matter associated with the game - not to mention the stats.

 

[Langeveldt]

Because it's so relaxing.. Nothing beats sitting on a grass bank on a sunny day watching the final session of a days play as the shadows lengthen.. Cricket is an escape, doesn't matter what standard you are playing or watching.. From a playing point of view, it is still for the large part a gentleman's game, and the carmeradery and friendships you make through the game are fantastic.. Nothing beats English village cricket from the whole social package point of view.. Unfortunatly my interest in professional cricket is diminishing rapidly as other forms of the game find their way into the mainstream, but I'm sure I'll continue to play even if I give up supporting..

 

[GIMH]

Yeah me too, it was a good catch.

Was waiting for that, should have known it would be you

 

[andyc]

Best poll

 

[Jono]

For me I think it's that beautiful cliche that cricket is a great leveller. Take my own game, for example - one week I took 6/21 off my 10 overs and the next I went for 52 off 10, taking only one wicket in the process. Just when you think you've got it all right, you get brought back down to earth and realise it's a long process to become a good player.

Not that I disagree, but doesn't that exist with many other sports as well?

Though I guess the question is 'why do you love cricket', not 'what makes cricket better than other sports', so it doesn't matter if that factor exists in other sports.

Anyway, I've been brought up on the sport, and love many things about it, but I think the visual brilliance of it is what I love best. A great cover drive or in-swinging yorker often leaves me in awe when watching (or on the rare occasions when I pull it off myself ).

 

[Richard]

Nothing beats sitting on a grass bank on a sunny day watching the final session of a days play as the shadows lengthen.. Cricket is an escape, doesn't matter what standard you are playing or watching..

You know, that is abso-God-damn-lutely right. It's fantastic to do that, every bit as much in a Test or a game down at the club.

carmeradery

*cameraderie

 

[roseboy64]

No idea.

 

[Smudge]

Not that I disagree, but doesn't that exist with many other sports as well?

Not to the same extent. If you're a striker and miss an open goal, all you'll see in the basic stats of the game is that there's not a goal next to your name on the scoresheet. Hardly a damning indictment on your game, if you get what I mean. Whereas, in cricket, your failings are right there, staring up at you from the scorebook.

 

[SJS]

Nothing beats sitting on a grass bank on a sunny day watching the final session of a days play as the shadows lengthen.. Cricket is an escape, doesn't matter what standard you are playing or watching.. From a playing point of view, it is still for the large part a gentleman's game, and the carmeradery and friendships you make through the game are fantastic.. Nothing beats English village cricket from the whole social package point of view..

Fabulous stuff my dear. So true.

 

[Mister Wright]

Can't explain it. Just do.

 

[Pratters]

It is a simple game if you think about it which is at heart a contest between the bat and the ball (though the balance is a lot more tilted towards the batsmen many a times nowadays). The contest between the bat and the ball is intriguing and fascinating. It is a skill game and the skills are so many and so pleasurable to contest when playing or absorb while watching. Apart from the skill aspect, there is also the mind aspect. Cricket is also a contest between two people and you have to use your brain to use your skills to be one step ahead of the batsman or bowler you are in a duel with. It is an individual as well as a team game and it is fascinating how the two work together. The team aspect, the talking points and discussions which occur because of cricket means that you make friends for life via it in the process of enjoying the cricket.

Most importantly, cricket has a soul which lifts the heart. There is nothing like enjoying a hot cup of tea on a cold winter evening in a near empty Eden Gardens while Bengal play a good game of cricket - the king of all sports.

 

[Son Of Coco]

You know, that is abso-God-damn-lutely right. It's fantastic to do that, every bit as much in a Test or a game down at the club.

*cameraderie

Have you become an American in that last two weeks?

 

[Richard]

Nah, just always been pretty fond of that particular Americanism (think it's about the only one).

 

[Son Of Coco]

Nah, just always been pretty fond of that particular Americanism (think it's about the only one).

I must have seen it a couple of times recently, I think that's why it seems to have stood out.

 

[Craig]

I must have seen it a couple of times recently, I think that's why it seems to have stood out.

For a second there I thought it was Ned Flanders.

 

[Son Of Coco]

For a second there I thought it was Ned Flanders.

Could be

 

[weldone]

Has there ever been a reason for being in love ?

If there was one, then it was not true love.

 

[weldone]

Because it's so relaxing.. Nothing beats sitting on a grass bank on a sunny day watching the final session of a days play as the shadows lengthen.. Cricket is an escape, doesn't matter what standard you are playing or watching.. From a playing point of view, it is still for the large part a gentleman's game, and the carmeradery and friendships you make through the game are fantastic.. Nothing beats English village cricket from the whole social package point of view.. Unfortunatly my interest in professional cricket is diminishing rapidly as other forms of the game find their way into the mainstream, but I'm sure I'll continue to play even if I give up supporting..

...Nothing beats dozing in front of the television when Afridi hits a six off Ntini and Nel excercises his face muscles looking at him and then waking up to see a superb outswinger from Pollock missing Mohammad Yousuf's bat marginally and Yousuf striking the ball along the ground through covers for four the next ball from him...Nothing beats just going through all the posts in CW for one hour forgetting to write one in that time...