I guess this is a sort of flaw with the question. I mean, watching, for example, any given 100m sprint is probably going to be a more exciting 10 seconds that the equivalent time in a cricket match would be (one delivery, I suppose). The excitement of (test, anyway) cricket comes from, for me, the context that emerges over several days. Cricket seems fairly unique to me in that you can get a lot of the excitement from the scoreline and a few snippets of text on sites like cricinfo where this would fail to capture the flow and atmosphere of other sports. Of course, it's not that watching a cricket match isn't more exciting that just following it, as it (generally) enhances the experience a lot. It's just that physically watching it doesn't seem to be the requirement to appreciate what's going on that it is with many other sports. I don't mean that people finding it boring to watch is non-issue because if people don't find it exciting when they watch it, there's a good chance they won't really bother keeping up with it and so won't discover how exciting it can be to follow.Cycling, darts, Formula 1 and ****ing Horse racing more exciting than cricket
Why does Athetics rank so high, does anyone give a **** about it apart from the Olympics? And it's generally all over in a few seconds or minutes.
Yeah, this is what I was attempting to say a few posts back, but I struggled for eloquence.People who try to sell Cricket as an 'exciting' sport are dumb. Why would you do that. Cricket isn't 'exciting'. The beauty of the sport lies in the gradual unfolding of a narrative, the deep examination of a player's technique and temperament, and the slow burn of tension as the outcome becomes more and more inevitable, till it finally is. The length and pace of the game means that teams can work towards victory via a constantly grinding and applying pressure, whilst simultaneously allowing for dramatic moments or passages of plays to turn the game on it's head. It's both about the constant accumulation of minor victories and winning the major moments. Every Test match is a story in of itself. Every player has their moment in their spotlight. It's like a fine novel, or a great TV series, in that it's going to take you many many hours to consume it, but if it's good, it's so worth it.
People trying to market it as 'exciting' are just dumb.