Test Match Cricket

After many days I am watching Test Match Cricket. How much better can it be when the Test matches are in England? The grounds are green, the buildings are white, people are quite (you hear few Desis shouting "jindabad...jindabad...", the commentary is good (and "English"). All in all, its conditions where cricket is pure, to play and watch. Its such a pity that India tours England only twice every decade and its even worse if you live in US as you don't get to watch English Cricket season on TV.

By the time I sorted out the issues with my laptop to watch the 1st test between India and England at Lord's it was the 3rd day of the Test match. It was such a beautiful summer day here in US and what better way to start the day and spend most of it watching Cricket? It is such a good feeling, early in the morning, snuggled up under a blanket and dosing off every few minutes to be woken up by occasional cheer for a boundary or a wicket. It was the same wonderful experience I had then, when India toured Australia in 2000 and I was watching it in India and now, living on this side of the Atlantic, India touring England.

There has to be very good reason why the quality of TV pictures are so good of cricket matches played in England, Australia, New Zealand and even in South Africa. But the pictures from the Indian subcontinent looks dusty and humid. May be this has something to do with the countries being in tropical climates. But whatever the reasons the pictures look colorful, crisp and pristine in England.

As far the noisy crowd goes I think its just showing their enthusiasm in different ways. Spectators in England just clap at the end of the over or when a boundary is hit or when a wicket falls. Where as in Australia they are more involved and in south Africa there are more bikinis in the crowd than anywhere else. And spectators in India, I was one for a few matches in Bangalore, just shout and make noise. I watched an ice-hockey game when Carolina Hurricanes played knock-offs in RBC Center here Raleigh during their Stanley Cup wining season in 2006. And the Arena has this big Flashy Marquee and whenever there was a break or time-out in play, there was a message/request on it encouraging people to make some 'Noise'. I was thinking, may be these people should watch a cricket match in Bangalore when 50 thousand people are shouting at the top of their voice.

Then there is Cricket commentary. It doesn't get better than David Gower, Ion Botham, David Lloyd, Michael Holding and whole lot of others. Its not just about describing what is going in the field, you see that yourself. Its more to do with adding something to the pictures we are already seeing. I like to think of it as narrating. Like the exchange between David Gower and Ion Botham on 4th Day of Lords Test. There were talking about the highest successful run chases in Tests at Lords and they show the list of run chases and when they happened. West Indies chasing England's 344 in 1984 was the highest.

David Gower : For some reason West Indies chasing 344 in 1984 is at the top of the list.
Ion Botham : Because you played in that game.
David Gower : And you bowled in that game.

These are the simple little things that make Test Match Cricket worth watching. The other thing about Test Match Cricket is the timeless-ness of it. I felt like nothing has changed since I started watching Test cricket 13-14 years back.