Desicritics Comments on The Problems With Cricket

Comment by Pratyush

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 10:52:25 EST

The United Kingdom gave up on cricket a long time ago Actually interest in cricket in the UK has been on an unprecedented high.

Comment by Pratyush

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 10:47:00 EST

Sorry but you do not understand cricket properly. I will have to explain that cricket is a quality game and counter you in a series of posts. Will start at it at around the next weekend as the weekdays which will ensue promise to be threateningly hectic. I do watch most other sports and there are several aspects I relish about each. As cricket has been attempted to be taken to the gallows here, with weak points I might add, with no disrespect to the author.

Comment by Amit

Wed, 1 Feb 2006 07:54:28 EST

Cricket is an elitist sport? Are you really from the subcontinent :-) I don't doubt it(his being from the sub-continent), since he points at Pakistan team while referring to players who even after playing for a lifetime don't understand the rules of the game!! ;) Really, that's one of the best jokes I've read in a while!! :)

Comment by Nanda Kishore

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 00:53:17 EST

Cricket is an elitist sport? Are you really from the subcontinent :-)

Comment by Nanda Kishore

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 00:51:17 EST

KO, sorry buddy, but your knowledge of cricket is abysmal. Try bowling at 90mph day in, day out ten months a year. No one's comparing cricket to basketball or hockey in terms of fitness or athelticism required. But look closer and you'll find some great athletes in cricket. And, the skills and subleties involved in cricket are just unmatched, except may be in tennis and football (soccer). You think fielding is just standing around, eh? Try fielding 15 yards from the bat and catching blinders (if you know what that means). Or catching skiers in the outfield. Those things take skill and agility. You don't have to like cricket, but may be you should review of some of your comments. Btw, the objective of ALL sport is to have fun!

Comment by KO

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:39:54 EST

It's all about having fun, so yes, just about any activity can qualify as sport. I should have been more specific in my article - it was actually geared towards a few people I know who think cricket is great excercise. Far as physical fitness goes, cricket, chess and other games like billiards don't quite cut it. Poster #6: Even the handicapped can play physically intensive sports like basketball. I think that one of the reasons to play sports is to get fit, and hence my dislike for cricket. Too many Pakistani's play a already lazy game, cricket, in the laziest way possible, and kid themselves that they're getting fit.

Comment by Suyog

Fri, 27 Jan 2006 10:00:26 EST

"not even cricket fans can justify cricket. Ask one about the virtues of cricket and they'll be clean bowled." Saying that, neither do your points come across as very convincing either. So what do you call Chess? A mind boggling useless game for two? Or perhaps its not a sport at all, because the only exertion there is that of the mind and not the body :). As you asked for a reason to justify cricket - here's one - In cricket, your individual contribution to the game matters as much as your team contribution; its the kind of sport where an individual performance of a player and team performance can be completely exclusive of each other and not related to the outcome of the game. There are a lot of justification for any sport, but as someone said above - its all about having "Fun". Interesting post to see a different take on cricket. Suyog

Comment by solemn

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 08:48:48 EST

KO, you like it or not, but golf is a very relaxing game... tried playing it? To make you feel bad, I have to say: It's often called the rich man's sport ;) And hey come on, it's just fair that the not-so-fit get a sport to play, and not just the athletic ones. Cricket is also a lot of fun...I enjoy playing as well as watching. If you don't have a good hand-eye coordination, you can only dream of touching the ball by hand or bat. Like the others pointed out, practically every game is just a one-on-one affair. If you say no, then even in cricket - the run-out process.. doesn't it involve more than two people? The bottomline is to have fun, I'm sorry you don't find this wonderful sport interesting, but not to worry, there many other equally wonderful games. Soccer for example.

Comment by Chaitanya

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 07:30:20 EST

not even cricket fans can justify cricket. Ask one about the virtues of cricket and they'll be clean bowled. Aah, where to begin? Strategy, concentration, nuance, unpredictability, talent, variety of talent, combat, patience, power, politics, luck, genius...... I'll add just one - FUN. The purpose of playing cricket(or most sports, for that matter), is not physical fitness, its fun. You play it if you enjoy it. Most of the subcontinent plays cricket because it enjoys the game, and its a very nice timepass (atleast for us wele engineering students). So what if cricket players are not as fit as those of other sports, I don't care...as long as they win matches.

Comment by reformist muslim

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 04:39:48 EST

not even cricket fans can justify cricket. Ask one about the virtues of cricket and they'll be clean bowled. Aah, where to begin? Strategy, concentration, nuance, unpredictability, talent, variety of talent, combat, patience, power, politics, luck, genius......

Comment by KO

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:03:49 EST

Baseball sucks too.. basketball doesn't - take a look at any game - everyone on the court is running up and down the entire game. Golf... I don't even want to think about it...

Comment by Aaman

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:00:16 EST

Cricket is better than golf, anyway, right, it's a 'good afternoon spoiled', not a good walk spoiled.

Comment by Matthew T.

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 21:47:41 EST

"There are twenty two men playing. At any given point only two of them are actually engaged in the proceedings. The rest are just standing around. That hardly qualifies it as a sport." That's OK. In baseball there's eight people standing around. Same in professional basketball. Hay-ooh! I always wanted to this sport to get a bit popular in the US and see how it develops. Or maybe there's just not enough room for bat-related athetics. ...Bat-hletics?