By LeftArmSpinner -
July 10th 2009 @ 1:46am
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A break from sport makes it fun again
I consider myself a rugby and cricket tragic, both as a player and spectator. However, I did not use my SCG membership to attend the 2009 New Years Test.
I did not bother to follow or even listen to the Australian cricket team’s tour of South Africa. Nor did I tune into the IPL or the Twenty20 World Cup.
I was tired of cricket: the volume of games, the lack of meaningful games, the poor performances, the poor judgment by selectors, captains and coaches, the earrings, the hair highlights, the self promotion and inappropriate sponsorships taken on at the expense of the team and the game’s reputation.
I needed a rest. Now, after a fallow period, I am back in love with cricket.
Last night, I was like an excited school boy about to meet a sporting idol as I waited for the first ball to be bowled in the 2009 Ashes series.
Earlier this year, I was similarly excited to attend and feel the palpable anticipation around the SFS as the crowd rolled in for the Wallabies first game of their 2009 season.
Last night I loved hearing the well known voices: Aggers, Blowers, Jim Maxwell, Geoffrey Boycott, Chappelli, Christopher Martin Jenkins and many others bringing their experience, opinions and personalities to me.
Memories flooded back.
I had first sat under a 40 Watt bulb with my Grandfather 45 years ago listening to the cricket. It would be another eight years before I even picked up my first bat.
Last night, and for old times sake, I got out a nasty little radio to listen. No television! The days play served up a typical Ashes contest.
Cut, parry and thrust!
It’s much more than just the game. It’s like meeting up with old and dear friends, and sharing happy memories.
Accurate or not, important or not, in the grand scheme of things, they make us feel good! I am grateful to be excited about both the Wallabies and The Ashes contest concurrently.
I hope that the Australian cricket team and administration has learned their lessons and don’t force me to take another fallow period in the near future.
The next test of the need for an effectiveness of a fallow period to regenerate interest will be in February 2010, when the Waratahs’ next campaign commences.
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(8)
RickG said | July 10th 2009 @ 11:24am | Report comment
Good to hear you regained the enthusiasm – there’s nothing worse than trying t oget excited abotu a game or a contest when the thrill has gone. I feel the same way about cricket: particularly the volume of it, but also simpler things like artifically inflating scores and averages by roping off grounds to make them smaller (and more homogenous, when one of the great appeals is that each ground used to have its idiosynchrasies), and advances in bat technology which seem to take timing and technique completely out of the equation. A tail-ender’s poorly timed top edge will fly over the boundary with the bats they’re using now.
Jameswm said | July 10th 2009 @ 1:21pm | Report comment
I was excited before the first ball too. And I was also excited when the Aussies walked in to bat last night, realising we could be seeing the birth of a cricket legend.
I loved that first session when we took three wickets, but ennui and sleep took over during the 2nd session.
Chop said | July 10th 2009 @ 4:11pm | Report comment
I agree with you LAS there’s so much cricket being played now that you don’t get the off season.
I remember waiting for the Rugby (both codes) grand finals to be played so I could start looking forward to the cricket starting and then once the ODI finals were being played couldn’t wait for the Rugby to start again. Now with cricket being on 12 months a year basically and Rugby with off season North Hemisphere tours there’s no gap to miss the game.
I freshened up a bit for the ashes by deliberately not watching the T20 and have loved the first 2 days and hopeful the next 3 days keeps the same standard.
Who Needs Melon said | July 10th 2009 @ 5:34pm | Report comment
LAS,
Gunna take me a bit longer (and probably for some other things to happen [like a captaincy change at least]) for me to regain my enthusiasm for the cricket unfortunately.
See you on the rugby blogs.
Bay35Pablo said | July 10th 2009 @ 9:50pm | Report comment
LAS, agreed, and I haven’t got the enthusiasm back yet for all the same reasons.
I just don’t like some of the team, even if I don’t really know them. Ponting and Clarke just put me off, and most of the rest are just bland. Bit like the NRL when compared to 15 years ago ….where did all the fun and characters go?
LeftArmSpinner said | July 11th 2009 @ 8:29am | Report comment
Melon and Pablo, have a quick listen to the ABC commentary. it is great. It might re-light the flame. I agree they are bland, but the commentators arent. Boycott, Aggers et al are great.. All of them personalities and entertaining. Yes, Boycott a personality, an odd personality but a personality none the less. Its a lovely interaction between them also. Even smatterings of knowledgeable observations of the cricket!!!
DAy 1, In reply to Blowfeld’s waxing lyrical about the picturesque walk from the hotel to the ground. Aggers countered with his encounter with the seagulls roosting outside his hotel window. It went on from there. Brilliant.
LeftArmSpinner said | July 11th 2009 @ 8:31am | Report comment
the big test of my fallow theory will be the Tahs. I have been bitten too often in the past seasons and have become deeply skeptical. It will be interesting to see if the fallow period envigorates moi!!!
Ian Noble said | July 12th 2009 @ 4:35am | Report comment
LAS
The ABC commentary you receive in OZ with Jim Maxwell must be TMS (Test Match Special), which recently celebrated 50 years of broadcasting on the BBC. An institution loved by millions in the UK who prefer the radio commentary to TV.
A number of highlights in ther first test match, of which the most hilarious must be Aggers interview with Max Boyce and his love of cricket. His stories of Botham in pantomime, bowling at IVA Richards, you know Sir Vivian Richards boyo. and his ode to Welsh cricket and the first ashes test match in Cardiff, absolutely priceless!!
Went to watch Quins RL v Huddersfield Gaints this pm had my dab radio ear piece to keep up to date with the cricket. Can’t resist missing the banter on air and real insight on the game from the commentators as England struggle, bring on the rain!! Quins RL were awful and lost, thank god for TMS.