I've never been into cricket. It always seemed like a tedious waste of a day. Nothing ever happened as far as I could tell, bowlers spent all the time polishing the ball and throwing it every now and then. Even the highlights were dull.
Then, while on holiday in Australia I sat down and actually watched one of the Ashes tests (the third one as it happened) and couldn't believe what I was seeing. I never appreciated the tension, the skill, the concentration required, the grit and determination you need to win. I hadn't even watched a single match before and it was clear I was completely wrong about cricket.
Unlike football, where you can make a mistake and rectify it with a lunging tackle or by scoring a goal, there's no margin for error in cricket. You can be batting for hours, receiving ball after ball, and if you lose concentration for a second you're out – and there are no second chances. My good lady and I were on the edge of our seats watching Australia demolish England and it was awesome. And like that I was hooked.
Of course, if you want to watch cricket in the UK, you need to subscribe to Sky TV and as regular readers will know, I cancelled that the other month. So it was with no regret at all actually that I phoned up to renew my subscription and within an hour I was able to watch the Simpsons and football any time I like again. Life without Sky was a brave experiment but in the end a fruitless one, especially as my love affair with cricket has just begun. And I always try to follow my heart!
Do you mean to tell me that you didn’t watch England regain the Ashes in 2005?! Oh, I almost forgot, you’re Scottish aren’t you! Even I watched that and I felt the same way about cricket as you did.
I can’t believe you’ve gone back to giving your money to Murdoch. That’s Rupert, not the funny one from the A-Team…
bah, cricket
working in retail (especially with the tv’s behind me) it gets annoying having the same converstation every day of the ashes and football finals
“whats the score” “dunno, don’t watch *insert sport here*” “Really?! but your a guy, how can you not watch *insert sport here?” etc
and I have always found cricket boring, I mean hell the commentators during the ashes started talking about tv shows (its on in our staff room of course)
I’m sorry John, I just couldn’t live without the sport and quality sci-fi like Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica (and neither can my good lady believe it or not!).
It’s ok Murdats, I know loads of guys who aren’t in the least bit interested in sport – nothing wrong with it. Far better than people who let sport run their life and it’s all they ever talk about!
pfft, while I enjoy those shows there are alternatives (I have both of those series on my computer) and if you are after a more legal option, well too bad, you will have to wait another 20 years for the non-porn media industry to catch up (seriously, it says bad things when the porn industry is nearly always a decade ahead of the game in money making and distribution)
but as far as convinience goes, and not paying for garbage, a large amount of hdd’s is the way to go 😛 (oh and not watching sport, you arent missing much 😛 )