Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Tuesday, November 22nd 2005
The Eternal question is “What will it take to get Americans interested in Cricket?” If you ask almost any American about Cricket, most will confuse it with Croquet and the rest will think of Badminton, in either case, they will tell you it is a fancy game played by elite country club type people. I'm sure the word boring will be mentioned. We all know this could not be further than the truth. Because I became interested in the game, researched it and eventually played it, I came to realize what I great sport it is. But sadly, I am in the extreme minority as far as Americans are concerned. To be honest, I had never seen a "real" match of Cricket until I received my copy of the Ashes 2005 3 DVD set 2 weeks ago. Within 5 minutes of watching this, my respect, interest and motivation was increased tenfold. As they say, A picture is worth a thousands words. If I can get my American team assembled, at the first team meeting I will first pass around the cricket ball and then show highlights of this DVD. This will immediately dispel any preconceived notions of Cricket not being a "sport" as well as show the team what they are in for. In other words, this is not a sport for the faint of heart. Believe it or not, American Athletes love this stuff. The more "macho" the game the more they love it. My point is Americans need to see highlight reel type of stuff like the big 6 shot, the fast bowling, the guts of the batter as he stands in the crease knowing he very well could get hit by the ball, the great catches, the camaraderie after every great play act.. I also found a really good cricket website that has a great forum / discussion section it is www.bigcricket.com. Thank goodness for the internet!
The Eternal question is “What will it take to get Americans interested in Cricket?” If you ask almost any American about Cricket, most will confuse it with Croquet and the rest will think of Badminton, in either case, they will tell you it is a fancy game played by elite country club type people. I'm sure the word boring will be mentioned. We all know this could not be further than the truth. Because I became interested in the game, researched it and eventually played it, I came to realize what I great sport it is. But sadly, I am in the extreme minority as far as Americans are concerned. To be honest, I had never seen a "real" match of Cricket until I received my copy of the Ashes 2005 3 DVD set 2 weeks ago. Within 5 minutes of watching this, my respect, interest and motivation was increased tenfold. As they say, A picture is worth a thousands words. If I can get my American team assembled, at the first team meeting I will first pass around the cricket ball and then show highlights of this DVD. This will immediately dispel any preconceived notions of Cricket not being a "sport" as well as show the team what they are in for. In other words, this is not a sport for the faint of heart. Believe it or not, American Athletes love this stuff. The more "macho" the game the more they love it. My point is Americans need to see highlight reel type of stuff like the big 6 shot, the fast bowling, the guts of the batter as he stands in the crease knowing he very well could get hit by the ball, the great catches, the camaraderie after every great play act.. I also found a really good cricket website that has a great forum / discussion section it is www.bigcricket.com. Thank goodness for the internet!
# posted by americancricketer @ 6:17 AM 
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The usual comments I get from Americans are that cricket takes too long and nothing ever happens. The answer to this is Twenty20. It takes about the same time as a baseball game, and you usually get between 300 and 400 runs scored. All very frenetic and exciting.
Unfortunately one of the things they did with the rules when designing Twenty20 was limit short-pitched bowling because you can use it to restrict scoring. That means you miss out on some of the real ferocity.
There was a sequence of a few overs just before lunch on the last day of the final Ashes test in which Brett Lee was trying hard to knock Kevin Pietersen's head off and Pietersen was equally dertemined to hit Lee out of the ground. I do hope it is on the highlights DVD.
Unfortunately one of the things they did with the rules when designing Twenty20 was limit short-pitched bowling because you can use it to restrict scoring. That means you miss out on some of the real ferocity.
There was a sequence of a few overs just before lunch on the last day of the final Ashes test in which Brett Lee was trying hard to knock Kevin Pietersen's head off and Pietersen was equally dertemined to hit Lee out of the ground. I do hope it is on the highlights DVD.
That sequence was in the DVD. In the first 5 minute they were going for blood. The first scene a guy gets whacked on the elbow, leaves huge welt all black and blue. The next scene guy gets hit right in the head and the next scene Ponting takes one to the batting helmet so hard it sneaks through the face cage and rips a huge gash in his cheek!! Now thats what I call action!!!
Hey there, just found your blog and I must say I admire your determination! I'm an Aussie that only really got into cricket about two months before the Ashes, and now that I understand it better I'm addicted to it. It was pretty painful seeing us loose the Ashes (first time in my life) but bloody hell it was one mind-blowing series. I think the best bit about it is that it displayed the best that cricket has to offer (apart from the Aussies being so out of form lol) and it inspires others that watch it.
Well I hope you go good with your dreams of American Cricket world domination, most other countries could do with a shake-up. I think it needs a lot of news coverage, some decent wins and of course infrastructure. Cricket academies etc would be the way to go, but it would be rather hard for you to get that all up and running. Have you thought about maybe getting a local team and going on a tour of a country? Imagine going on a tour of Australia or England, sending pics etc back to local newspapers and the experience it would give you. Only ideas, but it could work.
Good luck.
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Well I hope you go good with your dreams of American Cricket world domination, most other countries could do with a shake-up. I think it needs a lot of news coverage, some decent wins and of course infrastructure. Cricket academies etc would be the way to go, but it would be rather hard for you to get that all up and running. Have you thought about maybe getting a local team and going on a tour of a country? Imagine going on a tour of Australia or England, sending pics etc back to local newspapers and the experience it would give you. Only ideas, but it could work.
Good luck.
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