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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that cricket is shit?

156 replies

Cheeseoncrumpets · 03/08/2019 20:50

I dont get it. Its so monotonous and seems to go on forever and the scoring is all over the place. Its all wickets and runs and overs. At least with football when the ball goes into the net you know that someone has scored, same with rugby when the ball go over the line. But cricket just completley and utterly baffles me and always has. Yet some people seem to really love it. Yesterday I saw a bloke who was clearly meant to be working sneakily watching the Ashes on his mobile phone, its obviously rivetting to some.

Its just boring shit though, isnt it?

OP posts:

notyourmummy · 03/08/2019 23:07

I love cricket. Our wedding reception started with the Toastmaster proclaiming "and the bride has asked me to let you know that England have won the Ashes" My brother in law is Australian - it took every fibre of my being to stop my Dad ditching his prepared speech and reading out the scorecard instead!!!

Sparklingbrook · 03/08/2019 23:10

I do think it's possible to completely understand a sport and still find it boring.
I trudged around the nine hole golf course with DS2 week after week and helped him with his golf rule homework but still found it sooo dull.

Partridgeamongstthepigeons · 03/08/2019 23:10

DH just said he'd only watch cricket if he had a problem sleeping. So OP in both of our opinions YANBU

Ontheboardwalk · 03/08/2019 23:12

YANBU it can go on for hours and hours then even days and days if it rains and they use contingency days

Gentlemanwiththistledownhair · 03/08/2019 23:20

YABVU. Just because you don't understand the rules doesn't mean it's boring when you do understand. I defy anyone who understands the rules to claim the world cup final was anything other than completely gripping.

It's annoying in some ways because a game takes so long, but that's also part of the appeal, the slow build up of tension can feel unbearable in a good match. Everyone is talking about the last hour of the world cup final being so exciting, and it was even in isolation. But when you had spent the previous three hours watching England slowly (too slowly!) griding down the runs then the last hour took on a whole other level of intensity.

If it's not your game then fine, but don't be childish about it!

MissConductUS · 03/08/2019 23:23

I went to a baseball match in Boston. It was bizarre.

You saw a Red Sox game. Boston's a funny place. They're all a bit daft and driving like a lunatic is expected as well. If DS wasn't at uni there I'd avoid it.

We all had to stand up and sing a song at certain points.confused

It's customary to stand when the national anthem is sung right before the game starts. That's the only singing and standing that happens at a baseball game. It's not really that confusing.

Everyone around us spent the whole match eating, some people were conducting a business meeting, and hardly anyone was actually watching the match.

The pace of the game can be very slow. Quite a bit of eating does go on.

Won't be going again

I'm not a big fan either, tbh, though I might watch a bit on telly.

Sparklingbrook · 03/08/2019 23:25

It's customary to stand when the national anthem is sung right before the game starts. That's the only singing and standing that happens at a baseball game. It's not really that confusing.

No this was during the game because something happened. Not sure what.

phoenixrosehere · 03/08/2019 23:28

Yanbu. My hub and in-laws are big on cricket and hub played as a kid and teen. He talks to me about cricket. I listen out of politeness while thinking “ I don’t care, why must he talk to me about this, he knows I am entirely uninterested. Doesn’t he talk about it enough at the pub with people who are just as interested in it as him..”

I highly hope our sons don’t get into it. The idea of having to sit through cricket games for however many or long they are, fills me with dread. My idea of torture. I rather them get into rugby or football than cricket.

AutumnMeadows · 03/08/2019 23:29

YANBU. Ridiculous game!

DappledThings · 03/08/2019 23:36

It's customary to stand when the national anthem is sung right before the game starts. That's the only singing and standing that happens at a baseball game

There's the Seventh Innings Stretch. That's a bit when people are meant to stand up and join in a song. Happened at the one game we went to in NY. As massive cricket fans we really enjoyed the baseball. I highly recommend Ed Smith's Playing Hardball for anyone interested in the similarities and differences between the two.

To the OP it is somewhat silly to say because you don't understand something it's boring. The basics of cricket are totally simple but the brilliance of it is how much subtlety you can get into of you want to.

And aside from anything else cricket has brought us Tailenders, the greatest of all podcasts.

Susiesue61 · 03/08/2019 23:36

Cricket is our entire life! DS 1 was playing 1 till 6 today, DS 2 2 till 6 ish. DD is playing tomorrow all afternoon. Its a fantastic game when its going well, and the stupidest game in the world when it's not!
DD is an opening bat - she can be out first ball and the day is a disaster, or she can play well and it's fabulous 😊
You can sit in the sun and drink wine if you're not into the cricket, it's so lovely

minionsrule · 03/08/2019 23:37

partridgeamomgthepigeons
You really don't understand cricket then.
The field (those blokes stood around doing nothing) is set up based on the bowler type, the batsman (left/right hander and style of batsman), depending on the type of match it may be restricted where the fielders can be, the current score, how many overs are left etc.
The bowlers hone their technique..... have you watched spin bowlers? Including how much shine is left on the ball, how much it may turn and take into account the pitch, how dry/damp it is.
There is more skill in cricket than most sports as the condition of the pitch and the weather conditions before and expected conditions throughout the match play a huge part in crucial decisions like if you bat or bowl first.
I watched the captain of our U13 team in a crucial match last year put every fielder on the boundary as they needed 4 to win from the last ball, that decision won us the game.
Cricketers ain't thick put it that way. Love it or hate it but don't knock what you don't understand. ...... that's just ignorant

MrsMoastyToasty · 03/08/2019 23:41

Televised cricket seems to be all about filming a field and the sky.
I've never understood why Gloucestershire Cricket ground is in Bristol and not Gloucester.

goose1964 · 04/08/2019 00:01

Cricket is OK, I don't mind watching it, but like all sports I hate the post match discussions which carry on for hours in our house. Actually the scoring is very simple. For 5 day you ignore the wickets and the team with the highest aggregate score wins.

For one day again the highest score wins, but wickets matter because if a match is shortened the wickets affect the chasing score.

BackforGood · 04/08/2019 00:05

Oh dear SparklingBrook and MissConductUS, my dd has to go to a game in Washington tomorrow. She's not that keen on watching any sport - even the games she plays and understands. I'm not liking the sound of this slow pace

Oh, and they were told it would be a good idea to learn a song before the game (not the National Anthem - something different), so it does sound as if it could be a 'thing', as DappledThings suggests.

OP - you should go and watch a 20:20 match if you like your sports over a more compact amount of time. Really great games

DappledThings · 04/08/2019 00:12

BackForGood Could it be "Let's All Go To The Ballgame?" That's another song sung at the ground.

It was a great atmosphere when we went. No chance of getting a beer though if she's under 21. Everyone gets ID'd including the woman in front of me, in a wheelchair, sporting a badge that proudly proclaimed it was her 90th birthday.

DappledThings · 04/08/2019 00:14

Sorry it's "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". I've looked it up now rather than relying on my memory!

BackforGood · 04/08/2019 00:17

No chance of getting a beer though if she's under 21. Everyone gets ID'd including the woman in front of me, in a wheelchair, sporting a badge that proudly proclaimed it was her 90th birthday.

No, I don't think she'd bother trying to get a beer - not 18 yet !
Can't remember the song, it was a few weeks ago it was suggested.

Oysterbabe · 04/08/2019 00:17

Yabu. Cricket is awesome. I enjoy a game of football too but a day out watching cricket and drinking beer in the sun is tough to beat.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 04/08/2019 00:23

basically, according to some posters anyway. If you dont like or understand cricket then you are thick?

No no-one has used the word thick. Well except you..

You insist cricket is hard to understand, then give a very simplised expination of football and rugby. Both games are massively more complicated than if the ball goes in the net thats the score or if the man carrying the ball touches the ground you score.

Cricket is also very easy to simplify just like that. You just dont want too.

Yes its not unreasonable not like something. However its fairly ignorant to dis it just cos you don't understand it.

No one is calling you thick.

Innings are just the turns the two teams have

Overs is just the number of balls thrown at the batting team

The scoring isnt all over the place as you put it, although the number of runs for a number might seem odd it just means thats the number of runs a side of has scored and the number of people before the two currently on the pitch its taken to score those runs.

mlockyear · 04/08/2019 00:23

Completely unreasonable

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 04/08/2019 00:26

think you underestimate the tactics in football as cricket just looks like a load of men standing around to me

I dont undereastimate the tactics of football at all its my favorite sport, its far more than if the ball goes in the back of the net you win as the op suggests

If cricket is men standing around i suggest you underestimate the tactics of cricket!!

nokidshere · 04/08/2019 00:53

Try being married to a cricketer! April-September. Every Saturday gone 11-8. I’ve tried taking the DC along but they refuse now because it’s ‘long and boring and nothing happens and dad just stands there doing nothing’*

I've done April-September for 15 yrs now. In youth cricket it's wasn't just saturdays but 2-3 other matches during the week too. DH doesn't play anymore he scores, and both teens play for adult teams now, match on Saturdays, training twice a week. I get plenty of time to myself these days.

And I still find it tedious at times.

nokidshere · 04/08/2019 00:57

Forgot to add if we aren't at a match, we are wAtching one, or listening to one, or dissecting one, making teas for one.

Ds1 came home on a high today after being top scorer and a few sixes. Ds2. (Same match) was on a downer because he was out for a duck.

FinallyMrsE · 04/08/2019 03:47

My sons were both footballers and I went to almost every game they ever played in, then at 14 my eldest decided he wanted to play cricket, the first couple of matches were incredibly dull as I had no idea what was going on. I knew if I was to continue watching then I’d have to learn the basic rules at least.

Today I watched him for 5 hours and had to leave before it finished, but I wasn’t bored for a second, I can hold a decent conversation about wickets, run rates, lbw and controversial run out decisions.

DS took 3 wickets and I was as proud as when he used to score goals as a footballer.

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