I am going to preface everything I say here by saying: I love cricket. Some of my favourite sporting moments of all time have involved the Australian cricket team and, to a lesser degree, the Tasmanian Shield side. However, there is no doubt that as I have aged, my flat-out passion for the summer sport has waned somewhat.
I know part of this is simply a realisation of getting older and having more responsibility, but I have also wondered aloud if the relevance of our national sport has decreased to an alarming point. I am of the generation that, growing up, enjoyed the dominant Australian side. I was so blessed.
Ponting. Warne. McGrath.
Hayden. Langer. The Waughs.
Gilchrist. Gillespie. Lee.
The cricket season to a young boy growing up in Hobart was everything summer was, and went from October to February. I spent countless hours at my local club –playing, watching or in the nets, on the hill at Bellerive watching the Tigers or glued to whatever Test, ODI or even ING Cup game was on TV. As every year goes past though, it feels like the wider Australian public loses slightly more of a connection to the game.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly when, and why this happened – there isn’t one singular reason. However, in mainstream Australia, it now appears the cricket season goes from (maybe) the first week of December until the middle of January. Max.
This summer will be big of course, with the Indians in town. However, these series that actually capture the public’s imaginati.
