There’s something about cricket….

Ricky Ponting recently said he would consider a comeback if Michael Clarke issued an SOS to him. That’s the solution to Australia’s batting woes, bring back the old guy past his prime, wait don’t they already have Chris Rogers? Or they could clone Michael Clarke.  Back to Ponting, those hoping to see the famous ‘spit and rub’ in the slips were in for the worst news they’d heard since Ponting retired, Ricky was doing his best Sheldon Cooper impersonation. BAZINGA! Well, not quite.

All jokes apart, that piece of news took me back. Remember when Shane Warne took time out of his poker tournaments to say he wouldn’t mind coming back for the 2009 Ashes, if the team needed him. What a selfless gesture that was, after all poor Nathan Hauritz was so bad that he never even played on the driest wicket that series.

 I realize I sound biased. I have good reason to be. I grew up watching Ponting and Co. pulverize everybody. What a team it was, a team full of men’s men, until Michael Clarke was picked. I promise that’s the last joke. Clarke is a truly gifted batsman, his 151 against Steyn and co. at Cape Town is one of the greatest knocks I’ve ever seen.

I say that as a cricket lover. 5 years ago, I wouldn’t have appreciated it. 5 years ago I played ‘team favourites’. Doesn’t matter how good Ponting and Hayden look destroying the bowlers, they’re the bad guys. Who cares if whatshisname only bowls 120 and isn’t up to international level, he’s Indian, supporting him was almost automatic. The Australian team of the late 90’s and early 2000’s was truly great, that is a fact. As a young cricket fan I never quite saw it that way. 

No, it’s not because of the IPL, put a sock in it. I will resist the temptation to say put a ‘piece of thick absorbent cloth or paper used for drying oneself or wiping things dry’ in it, rising above and all of that don’t you know.  So what brought about this change in my attitude? It wasn’t a deep spiritual awakening, just a greater appreciation for cricket, and not just the Indian or whatever team I happened to be supporting. And the realization that you don’t have to be a nice guy to be a good cricketer. Adam Gilchrist mauled many an attack, but he seemed a decent man in an unruly team. Brett Lee terrorized batsmen with his sheer pace, but he always seemed nicer than the rest. Well perception is everything; we see and believe what we choose to.

Perhaps that is way 8-0 never stung the way it normally would have. Of course it hurt, it hurt a lot. However, I was big enough to acknowledge and appreciate the cricket played by Australia and England. This South African team is very good; in fact that is an understatement. They are a ruthless, efficient, well oiled machine. In the time gone by I might have disliked them intensely, made fun of their trips to the Alps, the Gobi desert and Timbuktu. While I added to their travel itinerary, I have nothing but respect for them. They are the team everyone wants to be and nobody wants to face.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks in cricket. Putting towels and handkerchiefs and pacifiers to the side, England and New Zealand played some good cricket. It had everything, success, failure, redemption, trepidation and youthful exuberance. The Champions Trophy and the Ashes beckon. Some things might change; the game is still the same. There’s something about cricket….