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How Sport Messes With Your Idea Of Hope
But repeated defeat makes rare victory all the sweeter
I’m a cricket fan. My Dad loved it, he passed the passion down to me. And still, one of my favourite things to do is watch every ball of a day’s play of Test cricket.
Test cricket — two teams can play for 5 days in a row and it can still be a draw! There’s no game like it. Chess on grass.
When it goes well for your team, and all those days of slow-burn tension crescendo into a win, then, as a fan, there’s no feeling like it.
And unfortunately, when it all starts to crumble for your team (perhaps even starting with the very first ball), then it’s depressing…
…which brings me back to England.
Confusing? Just A Bit
Although I live in Wales, I support England (because, in cricket only, England and Wales, together, are represented by ‘England’).
Odd. Sport is full of strange anomalies like this, especially in the UK where the whole “four countries in one” thing gets very confusing.
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as Great Britain at the Olympics. But represent themselves in football and rugby, but not cricket.
