Anyone For Cricket ?

A nice little interlude before the football season starts. Yup – the Ashes is on TV and for those not of a cricket persuasion, the Ashes is a biennial contest between Australia and England over five (test) matches. It’s being played in England this year and we’re at test number 3, the first being drawn and the second, a thorough drubbing for the ‘Foster Drinkers’. The third match is going to be all-important. If England win, they cannot lose the series, although if the 5 match series remains drawn, the Aussies will retain the trophy, a small terracotta urn containing the ashes of a reputed bit of cricket equipment, a bail or a stump – nobody knows.

Why am I, a Scotsman, so keen on cricket? I’m not really. I like the test matches (the internationals) and the limited over games but I don’t watch the county games otherwise I’d be watching it on the telly 6 days a week, if not 7!

I like the major games because it’s a fascinating study in strategy. Five days of backs against the wall or, on some occasions, all out attack. Or, depending on the game, it can be both. And I particularly like how a team can be really on top and then a bowler comes on and changes the whole state of play. It’s strange to think that batsmen, even the best batsmen in the world, need to be ‘at the crease’ (batting) for maybe an hour to have a real impact on the game and yet a bowler can change the whole perspective within a ten minute spell.

I love the fact that despite fierce on-field rivalries, when a bowler whizzes one past a batsman’s helmet, there is invariably an smirk exchanged between the two adversaries – not something you would get in football. And when an innings finishes, the team on top usually claps off its best performer. All very civilized.

And then there are the statistics. Bowling and batting averages. Strike rates. Best innings for their career and this series and all series against the team they’re playing. Being a ‘numbers person’, I love all this stuff. Yup, OK, I’m a bit nerdy that way.

But alas. Just as the third test was about to begin, the Midlands heavens opened and turned Edgebaston into a lake. They spent all morning mopping up to try and make the ground playable and just as they were about to start, 6 hours late, the electricity was cut off – all these bloody Frenchies turning their air conditioning on I bet! Grrrrr!