Cricket
The Past
Most of my childhood memories involve cricket. We played cricket while in school, we played cricket once we got home from school, we played cricket on birthdays and other special occasions, we played cricket during the weekend and we played cricket during school holidays. Having played so much cricket, we also watched cricket matches, stayed up till late to see who wins and cursed the winning team if we didn't like them ("May you all rot in hell you bloody Australians and also Indians even though half our families live in those countries!"). So we played cricket, we watched it, we read about it. We basically lived it.
We were scolded for the cracked glasses, all the lovely roses the hits seemed to be always directed at and all the tennis balls that went missing. We were scolded for tiring our selves, playing cricket instead of finishing our homework and for being out till late when the mosquitoes kept feasting on our blood. We ignored the rain or the hot sun. We ignored our aches and pains, and cuts and bruises. We played.
And here's the thing. I wasn't even good at it. I can't bat to save my life, I can't run and thus can't score. I can't bowl. And I can't catch or throw. So I'm a pretty useless cricket player.
Picture this: A group of kids deciding who goes on which team. Everyone is chosen, and the team who ends up with the last one without a team already know who the winning team is.
Ya, I was that last kid to be picked (not even picked. They had no choice)!
The Present (which will include the recent past, 'cause... just deal with it!)
I haven't played cricket for months now. I haven't played anything that required effort for months, but that's a different story!
The last cricket match I was excited about must have been World Cups ago. The last match I watched from beginning to end... Okay that has never happened. I don't even know when tournaments (are they called that?) are going on, and I don't even know what color the teams wear anymore! I'm pretty sure the cricketers I know have either retired or died!
And since in Sri Lanka cricket isn't only about the actual Sri Lankan teams and extends to school matches too, I have never gone for a single school match. Which, mainly because of the school I went to, could amount to a criminal offense.
The Future (which will include the present)
Cricket is no more a gentleman's game. It is full of corruption, bribery and whatnot. I mean, during the last World Cup, there were Indian women actually cursing the opponents, and praying to the gods, hoping the worst would happen to them (the opponents, not the gods!)
Cricket is a game, its entertainment. Yet, as a friend told me recently, "crickets is like WWE now." (And for you ignorant readers, WWE is World Wrestling Entertainment where grown men and women in tiny undies fake-fight each other.) Sadly, cricket has become that. At least they are still fully clothed. But it has become staged. It has become about who wins and who walks away with a big, fat cheque.
And for now, people are still passionate about cricket. Yet, soon enough, the roads wont be closed off for cricket matches between the neighborhood kids and even adults. No families would crowd before their TVs, cheering for the team they love the most.
Which is sad, because no matter how uninterested in cricket I am now, I love that it played such a huge role in my childhood. This love has become a part of the identity of a Sri Lankan.
Sri Lankans love their food, they love gossip and they absolutely love cricket.
Yet, cricket is slowly becoming what politics has become. What religion has become. He who is the most corrupt wins. And this sad reality, it makes me want to get my brother and cousins together and play a good game of cricket. It makes me want to let the sun burn me, and later watch the sun set as the final overs are bowled. It makes me want to either cheer because we won, or call the winning team a bunch of losers.
It makes me want to visit the past.
Most of my childhood memories involve cricket. We played cricket while in school, we played cricket once we got home from school, we played cricket on birthdays and other special occasions, we played cricket during the weekend and we played cricket during school holidays. Having played so much cricket, we also watched cricket matches, stayed up till late to see who wins and cursed the winning team if we didn't like them ("May you all rot in hell you bloody Australians and also Indians even though half our families live in those countries!"). So we played cricket, we watched it, we read about it. We basically lived it.
We were scolded for the cracked glasses, all the lovely roses the hits seemed to be always directed at and all the tennis balls that went missing. We were scolded for tiring our selves, playing cricket instead of finishing our homework and for being out till late when the mosquitoes kept feasting on our blood. We ignored the rain or the hot sun. We ignored our aches and pains, and cuts and bruises. We played.
And here's the thing. I wasn't even good at it. I can't bat to save my life, I can't run and thus can't score. I can't bowl. And I can't catch or throw. So I'm a pretty useless cricket player.
Picture this: A group of kids deciding who goes on which team. Everyone is chosen, and the team who ends up with the last one without a team already know who the winning team is.
Ya, I was that last kid to be picked (not even picked. They had no choice)!
The Present (which will include the recent past, 'cause... just deal with it!)
I haven't played cricket for months now. I haven't played anything that required effort for months, but that's a different story!
The last cricket match I was excited about must have been World Cups ago. The last match I watched from beginning to end... Okay that has never happened. I don't even know when tournaments (are they called that?) are going on, and I don't even know what color the teams wear anymore! I'm pretty sure the cricketers I know have either retired or died!
And since in Sri Lanka cricket isn't only about the actual Sri Lankan teams and extends to school matches too, I have never gone for a single school match. Which, mainly because of the school I went to, could amount to a criminal offense.
The Future (which will include the present)
Cricket is no more a gentleman's game. It is full of corruption, bribery and whatnot. I mean, during the last World Cup, there were Indian women actually cursing the opponents, and praying to the gods, hoping the worst would happen to them (the opponents, not the gods!)
Cricket is a game, its entertainment. Yet, as a friend told me recently, "crickets is like WWE now." (And for you ignorant readers, WWE is World Wrestling Entertainment where grown men and women in tiny undies fake-fight each other.) Sadly, cricket has become that. At least they are still fully clothed. But it has become staged. It has become about who wins and who walks away with a big, fat cheque.
And for now, people are still passionate about cricket. Yet, soon enough, the roads wont be closed off for cricket matches between the neighborhood kids and even adults. No families would crowd before their TVs, cheering for the team they love the most.
Which is sad, because no matter how uninterested in cricket I am now, I love that it played such a huge role in my childhood. This love has become a part of the identity of a Sri Lankan.
Sri Lankans love their food, they love gossip and they absolutely love cricket.
Yet, cricket is slowly becoming what politics has become. What religion has become. He who is the most corrupt wins. And this sad reality, it makes me want to get my brother and cousins together and play a good game of cricket. It makes me want to let the sun burn me, and later watch the sun set as the final overs are bowled. It makes me want to either cheer because we won, or call the winning team a bunch of losers.
It makes me want to visit the past.
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