Being stuck in the UK for nearly a month does have its perks. For one thing, I get to watch the only sport I actually watch with any interest. What could it be, I hear you ask? What gets Bollybutton's passions fired up and has her jumping around on the sofa and shouting at the screen?
The answer... CRICKET! Yes, laugh all you want but for me there is nothing more entertaining than a nice, meaty international cricket match between two closely matched teams. Cricket is a complicated game to the untrained eye, and can be quite slow moving. So to attract a younger crowd who's substance abuse has shortened their attention spans, a new revised format has been introduced called the 20/20 and the first world series of this new format is currently being played in South Africa.
I wish there was a scrap of open, flat ground somewhere in Athens and a few fellow cricket fans with whom I could play a game I am crap at but enjoy. Sadly, water cricket has yet to be invented.
Until then, here are my 10 reasons why anything else just ain't cricket (geddit?):
- Cricket players are better looking than rugby players
- Cricket uniforms are fancier and better looking than football uniforms
- Cricket fans are the best looking of all
- A cricket ball can kill you if it hits you on the head. Rugby or footballs can't
- Cricket bats can be used for recreational fun
- Golf. Enough said (bleurgh!)
- Tennis has an elitist reputation. Cricket is for everyone!
- Athletics is all about me me me. No sense of team
- Cricket makes you a better person, potentially even a better looking person. An ugly man in cricket gear creates the beer goggle effect.
- Cricket being made compulsory in all schools around the world would result in world peace.
Image: http://pricy-spicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/diamond-cricket-ball.jpg
2 comments:
In the Pedion tou Areos I've seen people playing cricket a couple of times on the weekend. (That was about two years back when I was living around there.)
I've also happened to be lying on a patch of green with the gf in a park somewhere in Munich, where some lads played cricket. A ball came down 3-4 meters from us and rolled over to our spot. Looks like I was lucky it didn't hit me :-)
I suspect you are serious (at least semi). Which takes a bit of geting used to. Cricket is one of the least accessible sports in the world. It is only played in former English colonies (including Corfu, in Greece!). Now, I do not want to disparage everything the British Empire did or stood for but I am glad to say that some nations resisted this particular cultural influence, including my own Ireland (you must ignore the fact that Ireland recently beat Pakistan, whether trhis engages you emotionally or not).
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