My intro to Cricket...

Written by Jun

Monday, 19 March 2007

HoldingWilley is all about bringing together interesting perspectives from around the world on the game we love and fuss so much about, cricket. However, sometimes, what is as interesting as the opinions of a hardcore cricket follower is the perspective of someone who is not directly exposed to the game, lives in and belongs to countries that are not Test playing nations,but has been newly introduced to the game and is, at some level, fascinated with it. It's like an American giving a Japanese guy his opinion on sushi.

Which is why it would be interesting to see what Jun has to say

I have always had a fascination with cricket. Born in a commonwealth country (Malaysia), I was exposed to it early, but never really got into it. Because I never understood how the game is played, why it takes a few days to play and what 163 for 3, or 50 overs, or what a wicket is. If someone had actually told me a wicket is a person, then maybe I would have understood it earlier.

I then moved to Canada in my early teens. And for those who live in Canada, you'd know that Canada is not a cricket mad country. Here, it's all about hockey, and we're not talking about the type you play on grass. But with all the immigrants coming to Canada, the game has of course grown in popularity, not so much with Canadian born, but with the immigrants, who come from the Indian subcontinent, NZ, UK and all the other commonwealth countries. In my office, there are lots of people from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and the guy who sits next to me, from Bangladesh. Three days ago, he was talking to another guy from the Carribean about something. There were talking numbers. But it was obvious that it was not work, even though we work in a financial company and we're always talking about $$. This was like 40 not out, so i knew it was cricket related. Plus, the Bangladeshi guy is a cricket nut.

So the next morning, I was reading the newspaper and I was trying to understand what the hell is the meaning when a team beats another team by six wickets. Here in Canada, we have a baseball team. So, using basbell as an example, my co-worker quickly and easily explained to me the scoring system, 6,4, and 1. And how a wicket can be called out, i.e. catching a ball before it hits the ground, which is similar to baseball. Then he explained to me the overs, and soon, I had a full understanding of the game. Well, maybe not 100% completely, but at least, I know what the hell it is that is going on now.

I currently have the India-Bermuda game on BBC. It is 330-4, 45.1 overs. I know that 4 batters have scored 330 runs. 2 of them are not out. And there are 4.9 overs left. Thanks K.S. For the record, since I watch English football regularly, I've decided to support England too when it comes to Cricket, although I kind of wanted Canada to beat them last night, since I am, after all, living in Canada now.