I'm not a baseball fan because watching it often feels like watching paint dry, but i can literally watch hours of cricket without flinching. Of the two "bat and ball" sports, cricket is arguably the more drawn out, more dramatic, and more convoluted. Test Cricket of the four-innings variety, for example, can last 5 full days per match AND, at the end of it all, still end in a draw. Such an ordeal can be frustratingly irritating for the uninitiated spectator.
Well, one man's convoluted is another man's epic.
Cricket, especially test cricket, is an awesome contest of not just strength, stamina and will, but strategy, patience and endevour. England vs Australia, Headingley, 1981 is a poignant example. Its the sporting world equivalent of climbing Mount Everest without bottled oxygen. By comparison, football is like taking a hike over the nearby hill.
Of the many test series in the game, perhaps the most celebrated is The Ashes.
Played roughly biennially, its a classic match-up between two of the sport's oldest exponents, Australia and England. Started in 1882, and bitterly contest since, only interrupted by war, the score lies Australia 31, England 28. Its being played again this year, and the competition has the potential of a classic, if the first test match is any indication; it finished a thrilling draw.
Only in cricket can a draw be considered thrilling. Trust the British for their constipated sense of humour.
