Where did you learn about cricket?

[Smudge]

Hard to say, really. I just started playing at primary school, as a 6-7 year old. Most of my mates at school played, so we had lots of lunchtime games as well. While my father has no interest in sport, my mates' dads were into it and often told us which international players to watch etc.

The biggest influence was our family friend - who passed away last month. His knowledge of cricket was encyclopadeic - he has (or had, rather) a massive cricket book collection, and every time our families got together for holidays, me and his sons would play cricket in the backyard of the beach house from dawn to dusk. The best memory from that was when the adult next door neighbours challenged us (I was 7, Tom was 8 and Matt was 10) to a backyard game. Unbelievably, we won. You couldn't wipe the smile off G's face for the rest of the holiday.

As for knowledge on the game, I tended to be given lots of books for Christmas and birthdays which - coupled with plenty of TV watching - helped build the knowledge base (or lack thereof, as some CWers may sneeringly suggest).

One of my earliest cricket watching memories is the absolute abortion of a decision by Tony Crafter not to give Danny Morrison a plumb LBW in the penultimate over of the third (?) test at Melbourne in 1987/88, thus robbing us of a chance to square the series. I've hated those Aussie ****s ever since.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

I learned most from my grandfather, a fine bowler who played for Hutton CC in Essex until he was 72, at every level from 1st to 6th XI.

Hutton CC, eh? Just down the road from Graham Gooch and yet another place (well, Brentwood anyway) that I've spent a bit of time over the years. An Aussie at work would have played against Hutton a few times when he turned out for Billericay. Have a couple of mates (still in the UK) who played for Hutton.

Finally, I'd never have even heard of Heath Davis if it wasn't for CW...

Well, that's my contribution to others' cricket knowledge.

If there is one thing I've learned from CricketWeb, its not to take cricket, cricket stats and cricket history quite so seriously. I know my stuff about the game, through 30 years of osmosis but don't really feel that this is a place to happily discuss cricket - there's too many ***** and little kids who think they know better. People who'll happily discuss whether Malcolm Marshall was that good when they never saw him actually play. There's something inherently depressing about it.

Now, I'm more than happy to meet up with the more sane people and discuss the game with them. The two members of this site I've met so far have been much easier to chat with than discuss things with on a message board and are top guys... Well, 16Tins is anyway

 

[aussie]

From the white side of my family mainly. The trio of my pops, uncle & grandps who had been to every test match at Old trafford from 1930-1998 (until he died in 03 from alzheimer's) are the most knowledgable cricket observes i know. As i mentioned before on CW, Pops took me to OT in 97. saw Steve Waugh bat & Warne bowl, automatically gained MASSIVE interest in cricket.

Plus i can aslo add my living grandps, from the muds side from Trinidad who has seen all Windies test @ QPR since 1954 (not sure if the ol boy was at the recent SRI test this yeat though).

So as a black youth in modern England, in which my race or more specially the age group post the decline of West Indies cricket doesn't have much interest nor knowledge of cricket & are 100% into football & American B-Ball. I am definately unusual..

 

[Smudge]

The two members of this site I've met so far have been much easier to chat with than discuss things with on a message board and are top guys... Well, 16Tins is anyway

****. Aren't you supposed to be buggering off over the Rimutakas today? Go now.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

****. Aren't you supposed to be buggering off over the Rimutakas today? Go now.

Ah, no mate. Going tomorrow now as the forecast is looking better. If you aren't working come along.

Voltman was a disappointment that in real life he doesn't throw a "naughty" at you after every sentance featuring some double entendre. This was a let down.

 

[Smudge]

Ah, no mate. Going tomorrow now as the forecast is looking better. If you aren't working come along.

Working through until Thursday, unfortunately. Have Friday off, then it's off to Dunedin on Saturday morning.

Voltman was a disappointment

Trust me, that's not the first time I've heard that.

 

[GIMH]

TBH, I just started watching it during the 97 Ashes. My Dad hates it, my Stepdad doesn't particularly like it, my Grandad likes it so I guess I'd talk to him about it. But mainly, I just picked it up from watching it, and talking to people who knew more than me about it.

 

[Richard]

God, I'd hate to have "learned" about cricket on here. You'd have a pretty skewed, ****ed up view of the world - let alone cricket.

Nah, CW enjoys a higher calibre of cricket discussion than anywhere else I've seen.

As to the question, well, there seem to be two different questions being answered: where did you get your love of the game from; and where have you learnt most?

Well, I got it from the fairly traditional British roots: Dad plays and has always watched, plenty on both counts. So does(\did on the plays count) Grandad (thus Mum liking it enough to marry Dad). So did my Dad's dad who died 18 years before I was born.

Where have I learnt most? The internet at large has been an invaluable source and CricketArchive's Oracle and CricInfo's StatsGuru have revealed countless truths via my own investigation, and there's plenty of CW posters who I've learned heaps off, despite the notion held by a few know-nothings on here that I never take any notice of any other person.

 

[Jigga988]

Definitely learnt from my dad who played cricket for Trinidad and from my coaches generally. I used to be a person who played cricket but never watched it although that changed in the last couple of years. Since i have been watching i can't say i learnt that much, Beefy's constant rants about swinging the ball and line and length and playing with a straight bat begin to get tedious upon hearing it for the 87th time.

For me cricket web is more of a past time than a place of learning.

 

[roseboy64]

Parents always used to watch it when it was on. Would drive me nuts them taking up the TV with this boring game. Used to watch when I had nothing else to do but didn't particularly care for it. Wasn't until high school that I started liking it. Went down onto the play field with a friend and some schoolmates were playing a little pick up game. Joined in and had fun and that's where it started. Started going to the school practice and reading a book called Cricket and learnt from there.

 

[Harry Harrison]

As in, what has taught you the most about cricket - a family member, playing yourself, watching others play, reading, or maybe even posting here on CW.

People in my family take a casual interest, but aren't mad fans, and I've never played at any serious level, so for me, watching, reading, and indeed conversation with some of the knowledgable guys around here have taught me most of what I know.

I played club cricket. Have played against a few Pakistani test players like Shahid Nazir and Misbah-ul-Haq.

 

[Harry Harrison]

TBH, I just started watching it during the 97 Ashes. My Dad hates it, my Stepdad doesn't particularly like it, my Grandad likes it so I guess I'd talk to him about it. But mainly, I just picked it up from watching it, and talking to people who knew more than me about it.

What about your step grandfather?

 

[Jamee999]

Go away.

 

[PhoenixFire]

I'm not entirely sure where I got my love of cricket from. None of my (close) relatives have played and my parents only hold a medium interest in the game, probably because of me. I've played since I can remember and I have always loved it, though less so nowadays.

I do actually have a great uncle who played for England and Nottinghamshire who opened the bowling will Bill Voce once, IIRC.

 

[roseboy64]

 

[PhoenixFire]

You heard the man, Rose. Go away.

 

[kingkallis]

My dad played for our local club and later he used to organize village cups etc...I was just 4-5 year old then!

I used to go to the playground with my maternal uncle to see their 40 over games, and thats the time I developed the interest for the game! Thats the time when SAF visited India and Allan Donald was just superb...

I started playing for our local club in 1997, captained my college team in 1998/99, 99/2000 and now I am the captain of our club since 2004!

 

[slugger]

when lance cairns hit 6s off lawson and lillee in 83 at the mcg i was 9 or 10 .. i loved the game thereafter.. due to health reasons i could never play at top level etc.. back yard and at time for my primary school i use to have a runner when i batted hehhe .. still.. ive always followed the game .. and always hoped nz could win the wc ahhh so close in 92... damn inzi..

 

[Craig]

Interest in watching cricket was a very gradual thing. As every ten-year-old knows, cricket is that mind-numbingly boring thing that clogs up channel 4 when you're off for summer and feel like watching a few Friends re-runs. At twelve it's something you flick on when you can't get to sleep. At fourteen it's a passing interest that you watch for twenty minutes before getting bored and returning to Champ Manager. At fifteen it becomes something you choose to watch, but don't go out of you way for, and get to know some players. At sixteen you've finally discovered something to do when the football season's off and appreciate a lot of the little nuances. At seventeen you have full-scale opinions on players, follow every series and even watch cricket when there's football on the other channel.

Now at 18 i find myself debating whether to stay awake between 2.00 and 2.40am in order to watch the afternoon session of a match on the other side of the world and wondering whether i actually have a problem .

Haha, I always thought you were older then 18, more closer to my age (23) then anything else. Mind you, I get a lot of n00bs thinking that I'm 25

Anyway, back on topic, my family couldn't give a **** about cricket, if a Test was on, it is a race to change the channel (so much so they banned me from watching it from downstairs). But for some reason my dad once put on an OD game when Aravinda da Silva was playing for Auckland (must of been 95/96) and he get a century. Also I learnt about it more when I had dumb ***** ask me if I was related to Courtney Walsh (my surname). But it wasn't to when we moved to Australia that I learnt more. I just read heaps of books, from the basics to autobiographies etc. I learnt how to bat, bowl, etc. out of a cricket book by Imran Khan.

 

[Smudge]

Also I learnt about it more when I had dumb ***** ask me if I was related to Courtney Walsh (my surname)..

Did they ask you that while you were in the showers? Cos it might have been a compliment...