It’s hard to explain test cricket to a four-year-old…
Communicating my excitement for a game which lasts five days and then ends in a draw is almost impossible. To make it worse, I don’t even have the right TV package to be able to show him and I don’t tend to even listen to it on the radio. I follow cricket in the most removed way possible – by reading the ‘text commentary’. Yep – it’s going to be hard to get my boys into cricket.
My only hope comes with beach cricket – I’m pretty sure I didn’t start following cricket because I could watch it on TV (though it probably helped). I’m sure it was on the beach on our summer holidays with my Mum playing (really) deep square leg whilst reading a magazine and my Dad putting a bit more effort into his run up than (apparently world famous) ‘spin’ bowling. If you hit it into the sea it was a ‘6’ or you were out depending on how strong the current was, we played with a tennis ball to avoid injuries and we took it in turns to bat except for Mum who preferred to maintain her fielding position.
So with no USA trip planned this year (cricket doesn’t work there anyway) it’s down to the English summers to give me a chance of making my boys fall in love with the gentleman’s game. Stumps in the sand, silly run ups and diving catches into the sea – what could be better? Perhaps Lords has seen its day and the Ashes should take place on Holkham Beach. I’ll write to the ICC and see if I can get it done.
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