When you grow up with a Dad who you love and who loves you and cricket, then somehow I think you end up loving cricket. Well that's my experience, although it could also be something to do with having a life size cardboard cut-out of Ian Botham in our hallway... This is how it was in my childhood home, family photos and works of art squeezed in between prints, books and other cricket memorabilia.
Ian in the hallway was quite a remarkable sight and he in return saw much of my formative years. It was Ian that saw me stumble about as I tried to quietly come home late after one to many snakebite and blacks. It was he who saw as I hurriedly hid a half empty and ancient stolen bottle of Cointreau in my bag, he watched with that smug grin on his boundary hitting face as I sneaked in my first boyfriend and then saw the tears as said boyfriend and I finished time and time again. (oh how my heart was broken).
Good old Ian was also keeping watch as I left for University, seeking new adventure. He stayed there for a few years after, watching my coming and going come rain or shine, sober and drunk. It was only a couple of years ago that Beefy went into official retirement in our house, hitting that lofty four for the last time.
The strange thing of course being that good old Ian didn’t even know it. He was far too busy playing the game of the gods, the game of gentlemen, the game that remains much maligned by much of the population, the game of cricket. If you look up cricket in The Oxford English Dictionary;
“a game played on a grass pitch with two teams of 11 players taking turns to bowl at a wicket defended by a batting player of the other team”.
Sounds simple, and well I suppose it is really but simple in the same way that so much of life, love, dating and relationships are simple. Simple in the fact that they should be, but generally aren't. It should all get easier as you get older, and you understand more, but then you find yourself making rookie mistakes and being right back at square one. But stick with it, as with life, cricket is worth all of the effort in the end.
This guide could of course be seen as patronising, but it isn’t. It is designed to assist the single or not so single girl come to terms with cricket, the history, the rules and what leg before wicket really means. Cricket is supposed to be the gentleman's game and so here we are really just equating and combining the too. Gentlemen and the game. You have a man who's a cricket fan, this blog will help, you want a man, this blog may help, you don’t give two hoots about a man, this blog may make you laugh. Who knows and no promises.
It is important to point out from the start that I know a lot of women already love cricket and probably know more than me. Fine. Also, I know that many women play cricket and definitely no more than me.
Anyway, the time just seems right, for this Girls Guide to Cricket or perhaps more specifically, the Girls Guide to the Cricket World Cup. Where conclusions and comparisons will be made and drawn between normal life, and well, cricket.
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