Sunday, 12 April 2009

Begin here...

This is the story of a summer in England. Think of it as a travelogue with a particularly strange slant. Where will we be at the end of it? Will we all still be here? Maybe it’s the peculiar English seasonal cycle, the well-rehearsed vagaries of the weather, which make the annual beginning of the cricket season such a moment of hope, and simultaneously, reflection on mortality. And this year the new season coincides with Easter, which for the few of us this side of the Atlantic who still exist within the remnant of faith, gives the added resonance of rebirth. The temperature is only 10 degrees centigrade, hands feel as if they should be in mittens, if you were going to stand outside all day you’d want five or six layers on, the sky is lowering, but on a famous cricket ground a few miles from Buckingham Palace, men dressed in white are walking out to enact their allegedly puzzling cricket rituals for the first time in 2009. This ground is known as ‘Lord’s’ after the man who brought it into existence, nearly two hundred years ago. And this year for the first time, you’ll be allowed in to watch wearing fancy dress, if you so wish.

Why should you care, American citizens? Why should you make time in your busy lives for yet another trivial way of wasting precious hours? How can I persuade you to take a deep breath and push open the door of the cricket pavilion? Here are some reasons. But look, let’s get one thing straight, I’m not looking for conversions. You can like baseball and cricket. I’m sure of it. It must be possible.

Reason one.You should care for the characters who play it. A great writer and broadcaster, the late John Arlott, an H.L. Mencken of cricket, once said that he had only met one really bad person in a lifetime hanging out with cricketers (though as a rather old-fashioned English gentleman, he would have poured excoriating scorn on the phrase ‘hanging out’). That sounds a tad boring, but Arlott’s experience half a century ago might be different now in 2009’s frantic media-obsessed world. Nevertheless cricketers are an interesting and often eccentric bunch of folks, particularly if you take a whole world view - high and low, rough and smooth, men and women, white, black and many shades between. There are crooks among them – matches have been thrown and bribes taken. At least one ex-international cricketer has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism. However PC-wise, it has to be admitted that to date the relationship between sexual orientation and cricket remains largely unexplored. For instance I couldn’t name you a high profile gay cricketer, though clearly I just don’t move in the right circles.

Secondly, fundamentally it’s simple stuff. I throw (‘bowl’) the ball, though with a straight arm. You try to hit it with a lump of wood (‘bat’). Trust me, this is much more difficult than it looks on TV. Yes, there are a lot of complicated rules, which can be investigated gradually and later if you want to, but basically that’s it.

Thirdly, it’s an intensely mental game. In all but the shortest, most violent form of the sport, there’s a fair bit of hanging around, and during those quieter moments the mind plays strange tricks on the players, sometimes encouraged by the opposition’s extremely devious, sometimes very personally-directed gamesmanship. If you have an interest in psychology, you ought to like cricket.

Fourth, though this is much in the eye of the beholder (or the believer?) it’s a beautiful game. Adherents of other sports claim the same adjective – notably soccer. I know I find the arc of the ball, the swing of the bat beautiful, but if I’m pressed I don’t know quite why. Is it the joy of watching precise human movement? Or the inch-perfect transference of will to action? Or the angles and shapes described?

Number five. Cricket has a rich history, and if your past and future travelling to Britain, in person and on-line, has entertained and fascinated you, then so should this game, every bit as much as the Royal Family or the ancient buildings.

Six, there are elements of science and track and field to be explored here. Why does a ball swing and curve in the air? How can a ball be made to spin and bounce most disconcertingly off the ground? How far can a ball be hit or thrown? What does the weather do to the events on the ground?

Seventhly, in the contemporary world, cricket is now acquiring political significance, in a way many sports don’t. This is a lot to do with the Asian sub-continent, its money and its rise to power. And also to do with the failing state of Pakistan where there are fanatics for many reasons, and not just cricketing ones. ‘We are the masters now’ the Indians seem to be saying, and as fellow ex-colonials with them, now threatened by the inexorable rise of The East, you’d want to take a look at this, wouldn’t you? However the good news is that the Chinese haven’t caught on yet, although since they admire the British education system (why?) I wouldn’t bet that they won’t soon.

Eight, and this is worrying, it’s a game so obsessed with stats, that many people seem to devote their whole lives to them. But if that’s your thing, your secret’s safe with me. My name’s Vince Cross and yes, I’m a recovering stat-head. But I can still tell you a shed-load of things that happened in 1934, if you’ve a few hours to kill...

Ninth, if you like baseball, you’re half way there already.

And number ten, cricket has an honourable history in the US. Once upon a time, more than a hundred years ago, you were quite good at it. You just happen to be going through a somewhat prolonged bad patch. Even Canada can beat you right now. Don’t you think this needs putting right?

OK, I’ll stop now. Let’s move on. There’ll be no talking down here. You’ll just have to pick it up as you go along. Rather like arriving in a foreign country, actually.