CRICKET

As school I was probably the first to admit that I wasn’t very good at sport. Always one of the last 3 or 4 to be chosen when they took it in turns to pick teams. However just because I wasn't good at sport doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy doing it. Rugby and swimming were things that I hated doing because i’m a slim distance runner hardly built for rugby and I couldn’t swim. My number one hate however was cricket which I class as the most boring and pointless activity to ever be classed as a sport. It began early at primary school but it was at castle rock when we had six weeks of cricket in one go that I really despised the sport. A typical games lesson was an hour long and consisted of two classes of boys, roughly 12-14 per side (the girls go and play netball). We would split between batting and fielding each half of the lesson. That leaves an average of two and a half minutes per person at the most (assuming 12 per side and not including getting changed and walking to/from the playing field). What actually happens in practice is that the “sportsman” of the class usually bats first and by the time the first half an hour is up only 4 or 5 actually get a bat while the rest of them just sit around waiting. Then the next half an hour is spent standing in the field waiting to catch a rock hard cricket (it’s usually the sportsman of the class that does all the bowling!!!) I estimate that for at least 98% of the time I spent playing cricket at school I was either just standing in a field or sitting around waiting to get a bat. I probably got more exercise just getting changed and walking to and from the games field than I actually got playing cricket. How anyone can justify this is completely beyond me. I absolutely hated it whenever the teacher announced that we would be playing it that games lesson. On at least one occasion I deliberately “forgot” my games kit knowing full well I would be put on litter picking as I would far prefer to pick litter than play cricket. Many accuse me of hating the sport because I don’t understand it which is not strictly true. I don’t fully understand rugby but I can at least understand why other people like it. How anyone can spend several days watching a game where hardly any action takes place apart from someone hitting the occasional six is beyond me. It’s one of the few sports that does not clearly define who is winning and losing right from the start. I couldn’t possibly get into a sport like this for that reason alone. Even a lot of cricket fans I know openly admit that when watching it on TV they often flick back and forth to the game while watching something else. Those I know who actually go to matches nearly always talk about how drunk they got at the game instead of what happened on the field of play.