AIBU to ask what people actually enjoy about watching cricket?

[Dovesono]

Someone took me to watch a cricket match the other day and I was bored senseless. Didn't have a clue what was going on, although most of the time it seemed to be nothing very much at all.

Please can someone explain the appeal? And why are the rules so bloody complicated?

It was county level in case that makes a difference.

I used to think this until my children started playing and I learned through watching them play a shorter format and watching the 100 with them. Once you pick up what's going on in shorter formats you can start enjoying it. I now have formalised girls' section and set up the women's section at our club and play cricket too and we are a family obsessed.

There is! Which I only grasp in flashes. Thinking particularly of climactic scenes in !Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers and Cricket Term by Antonia Forest.

This is me too - I'm hopeless because I'm not into any sport - but you'll go a long way to beat Bill Bryson's description of cricket commentary being "full of thoughtful historical rumination" and the game itself "scattered with delicious micro moments of real action", watched by millions, "some of them awake and facing the right way"

OP, you need to attend a test match involving the West Indies. I grew up watching cricket, playing beach cricket and occasionally being the scorer. DH played in a club here after we moved to the UK.
Full on picnic, drinks, banter and barracking the players and opposing fans, the noise of conch shells being blown, Carib Girls. Fun, fun, fun!
I will always remember staying up really late with a working day to follow, to watch Brian Lara hit 501 in 1994.

It’s my favourite sport in the world and test matches are my favourite type of it. Having said that, as others have mentioned, I would start with T20 or the Hundred - where there is a lot more action and it’s clearer what is happening. Test matches - or 4 day county games like you were watching - are nuanced and there’s ebb and flow, but if you don’t understand what’s happening, you wouldn’t get much out of it. I think it’s perhaps a bit like going to a gig of a band. If you don’t know any of their songs you’re going to get a lot less out of it than if you’ve done some “homework” and listened to their songs and familiarised yourself with their back catalogue. Before watching cricket, if you find out what is going on, what each team is trying to achieve and perhaps learn the names / roles of a couple of players, you’re obviously going to enjoy it more. Tailenders is a fabulous “loosely cricket based podcast” with Greg James, Felix White and Jimmy Anderson which might be a good way in if you want to get into it.

An ex-boyfriend used to use the tea comment about cricket.
Now I don't know if you've observed this independently of each other, it's a common expression or you're him.

No. Can't be. He wouldn't be a man on mumsnet-it's just not 🏏 to do so. 😁

I mean, how did you expect to find it interesting when you know nothing about it? Surely all sports are boring to watch if you don't know what's going on?

I like watching athletics but not too bothered about any other sport, however I don't mind having the cricket on because my DH is a big fan so I get him to explain what people are doing tactically, or why someone might be going for a certain type of bowling/batting. As with anything, now i know a bit about it it's more interesting. I mean, football is just people running around kicking a ball and often falling over pretending to be hurt. Athletics is just people running fast and jumping over stuff. All sport is boring if you don't care about it or understand it!

Unless it’s a Hundred or 20/20 match, cricket is not a sport you’re going to enjoy on your first experience. Im not really a fan of any sport but I can see why people love cricket so much. My DS plays and absolutely adores it, much more than football (Which he also plays). He seems to love it because there are so many tactics involved which he finds fascinating.
DH usually goes to Lords once at year to see a test day. He goes for both the sport and the social side, it’s an excuse for him to spend the day drinking wine and eating snacks wit his old friends! But he also enjoys the game, too. He and DS will spend hours listing to test commentary or watching highlights on the TV.
Ive been to a few one day internationals, 20/20 and Hundred games. The latter were fun as they were fast paced and exciting. No way would I go to a test match.
TMS (Test Match Special) on the radio is an excellent listen, whether you’re into cricket or not!

I love a live T20 game on a sunny afternoon/evening but prefer the comfort of home for test matches these days. Just a bit too long to be sitting in not super comfortable seats etc.

My friend try to explain, to be fair.

I mean, how did you expect to find it interesting when you know nothing about it?

I didn't, but it was even more mind-numbing than I expected.

I really went to keep my friend company. Actually it was interesting to see where it took place.

There is! Which I only grasp in flashes. Thinking particularly of climactic scenes in !Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L Sayers and Cricket Term by Antonia Forest.

Yes those two of course. The Cricket Term is a book I can read over and over. I had read MMA before I read Cricket Term, so I understood the references.

I used to enjoy watching the Sunday League games back when the BBC used to show them, and seeing all the county grounds.

I don’t doubt this is one of the reasons.

you do REALLY need to enjoy cricket to sit through a test match and it helps a lot if you know the rules.

Personally I love it and could sit watching test cricket all the time if I didn’t have a small child.

Cricket goes on so long they had to make the shorter version to try and keep it alive because no one under 50 was interested. I can’t actually believe how long the games drag on for. Lots of cricket players are overweight as well so I’m not sure how much movement is really involved.

I don’t think 20/20 or The Hundred are similar enough to test cricket so even if you like the short format of the game, you won’t necessarily like test cricket. The tactics are just not the same.

The Ashes in 2005 was an amazing series and that is where I became hooked.

@DovesonoI realise I didn’t answer your question about what I find interesting when I watch cricket, but I’m guessing statements about why the captain changes his team’s field positions, when certain bowlers are taken off & others put on, the intricacies of left arm over & right arm round bowling, playing a captain’s innings & the use of night watchmen etc might be lost on you too. I’m ignorant of rugby & find it less interesting as a result, but rugby matches don’t last as long. I have asked people to explain the rules of rugby to me, but they are always strangely loathe to do so 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Where were you living when Lara scored his 501?

The draw at Cardiff in 2009 ashes was not a game that fizzled out. It was an amazing finish and a draw was a brilliant result. I think that’s an issue - you have to appreciate that a draw of a test in a test series can be as important as a win.

DH is a massive cricket fan, and I hate it. No matter how much he explains it I just don't get it. I very much think you either get it or you don't.

The highlight of watching a live cricket match is a picnic and Pimms as very little is happening on the pitch

The main highlight of watching cricket on TV seems to be having a nice snooze in front of an almost totally unchanging green expanse on the screen (at least it was for my DF! )

Shock - people like different things

I love cricket in all its formats, although I definitely don’t know every rule, just enough to follow what’s going on. I really enjoy the atmosphere at the ground and have a few favourite English and international players. I also love watching newer formats - T20 and the hundred. And with the women’s teams doing so well, I’ve started following women’s cricket too. Both my children play as well, so cricket is a big thing in our house.

This, I’m a cricket convert after my kids started playing! It’s just so civilised, you sit in deckchairs and someone comes round at the end of an innings with a tray of tea.

T20best place to start. Lords is actually cheap to go to, Watching tennis is like going to church, watching cricket is like going to the pub! The crowd is always great.

Village cricket is the best. A chance to make friends in the sunshine

I'm a lifelong fan. My dad was too, so there was always cricket on tv or the radio at home and I learned about the laws, strategy and players over time. My sister, brought up the same, couldn't be less interested.

It's a hard sport to get into "cold" - although my OH did after he met me and is now just as big a fan. Once you do understand what's going on, it's a fascinating sport with so many nuances and variables.