Favourite extracts - 2
Marcus Berkmann in Rain men: madness of cricket explains the lure of cricket far better than I ever will:
A four-year-old walked in and asked me what I was doing. I was watching the cricket, I explained.
'Why?'
'Because I like it.'
'Why?'
Precocious little bastard. A moment later my then girlfriend walked in. 'Yes, why do you like cricket?' she said, scenting blood. 'I think its boring,' said the repellant infant. 'So do I,' said my soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend. I was cornered. Why? why? why?
It's a question that rises time and again. Non-believers cannot allow themselves to fall under the spell of a mere game, an intrinsically silly one at that. Their sneers and contempt, not to mention their endless satirical use of the phrase "bowling a maiden over", can undermine the most robust of personalities. What they don't understand is that we know it's stupid, but England are 82 for 4, for Christ's sake. Which, needless to say, answers all their questions in full.
If really pushed for a response, I talk of cricket's grace, its physical bravery, its psychological and intellectual dimensions, its emotional resonances, of the confrontation between batsman and bowler, the endless possibilities, the unpredictable flux. After four hours' detailed advocacy, sometimes with the use of audio-visual aids and always with a complete description of the various grips a leg-spinner might use, I tiptoe out of the room before my unwitting audience wakes up.
A four-year-old walked in and asked me what I was doing. I was watching the cricket, I explained.
'Why?'
'Because I like it.'
'Why?'
Precocious little bastard. A moment later my then girlfriend walked in. 'Yes, why do you like cricket?' she said, scenting blood. 'I think its boring,' said the repellant infant. 'So do I,' said my soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend. I was cornered. Why? why? why?
It's a question that rises time and again. Non-believers cannot allow themselves to fall under the spell of a mere game, an intrinsically silly one at that. Their sneers and contempt, not to mention their endless satirical use of the phrase "bowling a maiden over", can undermine the most robust of personalities. What they don't understand is that we know it's stupid, but England are 82 for 4, for Christ's sake. Which, needless to say, answers all their questions in full.
If really pushed for a response, I talk of cricket's grace, its physical bravery, its psychological and intellectual dimensions, its emotional resonances, of the confrontation between batsman and bowler, the endless possibilities, the unpredictable flux. After four hours' detailed advocacy, sometimes with the use of audio-visual aids and always with a complete description of the various grips a leg-spinner might use, I tiptoe out of the room before my unwitting audience wakes up.
