Testing Patience

I've already wrote of my great love for test matches.  But sometimes they can be quite strange.

The Something About Morne XI

Sometimes I picture what it would be like to play test cricket.  Considering that I'm 19 and have never picked up a cricket bat or ball in my life, I'd say my chances are none to, well, none.

Which leads me to imagine myself as a selector. Listen, I know it's strange, but they're my dreams dammit.

So, here is the team I would pick to represent the fictional country of Something About Morne. 

Thoughts on West Indies-Pakistan

I felt like I needed to write something about the second test between the West Indies in Pakistan.

Not that anyone should particularly care about my opinion, there are plenty of better writers out there to read.

But for me, this match has only re-affirmed my love for this slightly absurd, but wonderful sport.

Gilly

I've mentioned it dozens of times already, but one of the major ways I've gotten into this wonderful world of cricket is watching old YouTube videos.

If there's one person, who I just can't get enough of, it's Adam Gilchrist.

Test Matches!

I've mentioned quite a lot (possibly once every post, I dunno, get off my back), that test matches are far and away, my favorite form of cricket.

Pakistan aims for their first ever test series win in the West Indies, starting tomorrow, in what is the first test since Pakistan battled New Zealand to a fairly even draw in mid-January.

I've talked a tad about why I prefer them, but never really expanded on this. Maybe, it's because, the first match I watched was a test. Maybe its because, it that first match I watched, I was home on Thanksgiving break, and needed it was on into the wee hours of the morning, which I stay up til anyway. Maybe, it's because it's the most traditional form of the game, and I like that.

Bond, Shane Bond

Every sport has its fair share of players who are dynamic for a few seasons, then for whatever reason are done.

In American football, amazing running back Ricky Williams retired for a few seasons to go smoke pot. He came back and was able to show flashes, but wasn't really the same.

In basketball, "Pistol" Pete Maravich drank his career away.

Very few athletes miss large amounts of time, and miss parts of their career of their own doing like Shane Bond.

Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle scored 37 runs in one over earlier.

It sounds like something that should surprise me, but seeing some of the scores he posted thus far in the IPL, it doesn't.  At all.

Everything about Gayle fits perfectly together.  Of course someone named Chris Gayle, who plays for the West Indies, is an absolute maniac with the bat.  I prefer test matches, but watching Gayle flail around with the bat in T20s, makes them worth it.

While I love it, cricket can be a bit of a drag at times.  But watching Gayle trying to split cricket balls in two is a breath of fresh air.  The sport is better off for the Gayles and Sehwags.

So, there really isn't anything that Gayle could do to suprise me.

37 in an over? Sure. 

Get out on 99 with some absurd shot that no one in there right mind would go for? You bet.

Score 150 in a T20? Absolutely.

All of these things are possible for Chris Gayle, and I don't want him to ever change.

A Love of Brett Lee

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I got into cricket via watching he latest Ashes series.  And by the end of that series, I had fallen for the Australian team.  And seeing them lose the series like that was frustrating, even for a new fan.  And then the ODI series started, and a certain bowler took the pitch, who didn't play in the test series.

More One Day Interzzzzzz

I sit here on my laptop with a window of Cricinfo's live text of the last ODI between the West Indies and Pakistan, and can't help but wonder why.  I could easily find live video of the match, but I'm perfectly content reading about it.

Every sport has its meaningless games, but it cricket it's just...different.

Cricket has the World Cup and the World Twenty20, so to play an overabundance of those matches during series, seems kinda absurd to me. 

I understand, different countries have different loves, as far as forms of the game go, but to me, test match cricket seems like the pinacle of the sport.  Do the West Indies and Pakistan really have to play a 5th ODI, considering that they're only going to play 2 tests.

Australia and England played 7(!) ODIs after the biggest test series of all.  Now by the time The Ashes were over, I was an Aussie supporter, and was I happy to see them win? Yes, of course, but that still didn't overshadow the fact that they got boatraced in the tests.

By all means, play ODIs and Twenty20s, don't get rid of them.  But the amount that they play seems mindnumbing at times.

Observations

• Chris Gayle is fun to watch.
• I'm not sure if Michael Clarke as Australia captain is going to work, but I really like him.
• I don't like the Indian team.
• The fact that the West Indies and Pakistan are playing 5 ODIs is ridiculous.
• Being an Australian supporter, I'm not a big England fan, but Ian Bell supports Aston Villa, so he's cool.
• Wickets are cool.
• Shane Warne is cool.
• Shahid Afridi is cool.
• I find test cricket so much more enjoyable to watch than One Day and Twenty20.
• I want to watch a test match.
• After watching old YouTube videos, I really like Shane Bond, wish he played longer.
• Virender Sehwag is fun to watch.
• If I was Australia, I'd throw Paine, Hughes, Khajawa into the fire, and play them from here on out.  What do they have to lose?
• Hashim Amla's beard is awesome.
• Don't know why I find it funny that between Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Mahela Jayawardene, that Sri Lanka have someone named Angelo Matthews playing for them.
• I don't like Kevin Pietersen.
• A Test Match World Cup would be awesome.
• I hope the USA team qualifies for the World Twenty20, I don't even care if they get boatraced every game.
• The ICC is a tad bit dumb.

Maybe Why I Love Australia

My first favorite sport is baseball.  It always has been, and probably always will be.  It has been engrained in me since I was young.  Both of my parents are gigantic New York Yankees fans, and once upon a time had Yankees season tickets.  So not suprisingly, I'm a Yankees fan.

When I started watching cricket, and I started reading about the history of the game, Australia sort of struck me as being like the Yankees.  A history of being great.  If you're not a fan of them you most likely hate them.  And some cool traditions that I love reading about.