Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => Your Cricket => Topic started by: Tail Ender on May 16, 2014, 02:05:34 PM
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I'm sure we all know that cricket is the most beautiful game in the world to play at times, but it can also be the most furiously frustrating game in the world at times. So a simple question for you all - why do you play? What makes you come back year after year? Do you want to eclipse last season's record run/wicket total? Or was last season a bust and you can't give up on such a poor note? Do you just enjoy the social aspects? Do you thrive on the competitiveness? Are you a hopeless romantic when it comes to the game? Or do you just play for fun?
I'll get the ball rolling here. I play because I suffer with depression and I need an outlet to do something physical and just for me that I enjoy. I was encouraged to get back into it by my psychologist some years ago, after not playing for a number of years. I play for the sake of my mental well being, which is why I don't get as fired up about it as some guys I play with. When I play I want to win and do the best I can, and I want to enjoy it. But ultimately, it gives me something to look forward to each week in the form of training and a game. It gets me out of the house to do something physical and that I have always loved.
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Nice post Tail Ender
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I find I really really enjoy batting. I find it relaxing and enjoyable and keeps my mind happy. I suppose it's partly why I like training so hard, means I'm batting, sadly I now get more enjoyment from a proper net session than games due to how people seem to play nowadays.
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I'm starting to think i play purely because i don't know what i'd do if i didn't play cricket.
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A mixture of reasons really, the main 3 have to be;
1. I love the game, that's clear enough to see
2. Spending Saturday's with the lads, good excuse for a day away from the missus ;)
3. There is no better way to spend a hot summers day - cricket, teas, cricket, cider
Result.
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The cake at tea!
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I play because i enjoy all aspects of the game ( apart from the travelling ) and always look forward to the season starting and then the weekend. But i to are getting more saddened each season due to the behaviour of certain teams and individuals.
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Trying to re-capture old glorys. :D
No seriously the collective feel good of the team when you win or play well is brilliant, even at 50!!!!!
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All of the above and more besides. I just enjoy practically everything involved with it. The gentle exercise, pitching in with the jobs, the team, personal performance, being outside, everything!
Oh, I don't like the rain.
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My dad was a great cricketer in the local area, so watched every sat/wed and started playing at an Ages I could.
He passed away when I was 13, and I stopped as struggled to get around. But at 15 I found a club I could easily travel to and decided to take the game back up in his memory. And still playing there 16 years on.
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The fact I have spent too much on equipment for me to stop playing.
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I get to talk cricket... :) People do tend to think Im obsessed though.
The club I play at has very little infrastructure but good people, who I've played with for the last 6/7 years. We come from all walks of life but generally get on - in my job it's pretty much the same type of people, so the variety of experience is good. Being a captain and responsible for a club's future can also be motivating and a real problem at different times but I think it's helped me understand people better. So it's been good pastorally and for one's life skills (I hope).
As a kid, coming from a broken home, it was a good way of getting out of the house and away from it all.
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I got brought up with cricket and have always loved the game I only realised how much I missed it when I got seriously ill and ended up having 24 operations I got told I would never play again and to me that was the kick up the (No Swearing Please) I needed to try and overcome my condition and I had the all clear in march so this will be my first full season for a long time :D
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I absolutely love cricket.
I spend Mon/tues at work looking forward to training on wednesday, then thursday and friday looking forward to playing at the weekend.
Tomorrow is pretty much my ideal day, helping run my son's under 9's game in the morning, then racing to our 11.45 meet for my match in the afternoon, all hopefully in brilliant sunshine then beers in the clubhouse in the evening......life doesn't get much better. my wifes even stopped moaning about it :)
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Been attending cricket matches for as long as I can remember watching my dad to now playing myself. Can't think of anything more I'd want to do on a Saturday, it's just everything about it, playing, being with the lads and ultimately having a laugh.
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I've always played sport since I could walk, like cricket but didn't take it seriously until I couldn't play regular football or rugby due to knee pain (although i'd tailed off playing rugby by this point)
Initally played with 2 mates with a foam bat and a tennis ball around the school grounds. We then started playing with a leather ball in nets. Joined my local club and it went from there.
Now, cricket is a much bigger part of my life. It's my main hobby and probably my most regular socialising outside of work. Live for Saturdays.
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I PLAY CRICKET BECAUSE FOOTBALL IS TOO TIRING.
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Have no idea why I play. My best guess could be banter, cake, avoiding the family, standing (or ideally sitting) in the sun. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with ability or exercise.
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I play because I love it. I don't play enough due to "family commitments" and that gets on my nerves.
I think there is something about the camaraderie of the team and that you are generally playing with friends, so you all pull together and feel the ups and downs together.
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The summer heat , the smell of fresh cut grass. That feeling when you middle the ball. I love the smell of lager even though I can't drink. I guess I am chasing a beautiful memory of how it felt to play cricket and that makes me play every year. Plus the usual perks of avoiding the spouse.
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I play because I love it. I don't play enough due to "family commitments" and that gets on my nerves.
I think there is something about the camaraderie of the team and that you are generally playing with friends, so you all pull together and feel the ups and downs together.
Yer big softie! ;)
Seriously - good answer Tim. ;)
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Me? I've never been any good at it, but I enjoy it when I get the chance to play.
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Great thread this! I've never been much cop at this game and on the inexorable downhill slope towards retirement. I love the feeling (all too rare) of having totally nailed a textbook shot. And the buzz of the team pulling together to win in a tight scrap. But also, being a bit nerdy, i think cricket is almost unique among sports for its technicalities and subtleties. Which is probably why lots of people find it boring but thats their loss...
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Excellent and thought provoking topic
Some great posts
Why do I play?
Because I always have? My earliest memories are of playing cricket on a cobbled back street with a scrunched up newspaper ball and a bat cut out of somebody's old skirting board!
Ive had many reasons to not play,,usual back problems ,dodgy knees, ex wife hated it and me!ha, ,and I went blind when I was 16,,which kinda ended my 'professional' hopes,,,but after eye surgery and a cricket loving new missus,I play whenever, wherever and for whomever I can. Knowing how lucky I am, just to be able to play
I try and improve and learn year on year,, but still get out to the same shots,,,must be the bat?
I've made some truly lifelong friends from the game and introduced my son to a game I know he loves playing as much as I do
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I guess I'm a hopeless romantic when it comes to cricket . Never had the opportunity to play leather ball cricket in my childhood due to me being a rubbish players.Was pretty much useless in every aspect of the game so I never enjoyed playing it due to all the disappointment and humiliation. So I gave up trying to play the game and watched/followed the game religiously to keep myself satisfied.
But since I started playing club cricket couple years back at the age of 32, I realised I have become a much better cricketer with regular practice. These days I absolutely love playing the game and I pretty much live my life for Saturdays.
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For fun, enjoyment and the mental challenge of batting. I just love batting. I could go in the nets for 10 hours a day if i could find a bowler
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Because telling a girl in a club that you play cricket is a guaranteed way to pull..
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Because telling a girl in a club that you play cricket is a guaranteed way to pull..
Where do you live? We need to visit...
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I play because where I live, all cricketers are imbued with a raw sex-appeal - honestly it's like a pheromone!
I play because I enjoy man-made fibres, and the sensation of cheap plastic cupping my testicles.
I play because if I didn't my wife would have a selection of seriously tedious sh*t for me to do at home - all weekend.
I play because I feel associating myself with a bunch of younger, far sportier men will make me eminently more shaggable at 'Slags' nightclub in Woking on a Saturday night.
I play because I love the game, and at my age the alternatives are bridge, garden centres and swinging.
I play because it's the best game ever, and I don't care that my wife and some teenagers don't get it.
I play because it makes me feel good, and it is the perfect antidote to having to work in a sh*tty job for a living, and brings joy to my weekends.
God bless us all - nerds one and all!
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I have reignited my love for cricket after a couple of years out, because I hated getting up early on a Sunday and I didn't have much ability. But now, I have realised that cricket is what I love most, and I am around people who understand me when I talk. Even though my ability is mediocre, I like the game more every day.
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Why do I play cricket? Honestly...... I have no idea! I appear to have got steadily and dramatically worse with time!
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Days like yesterday are a good reason to play. Day in the sun with your mates, having a laugh and having a real sense of achievement and unity when we won.
And the decent teas were an added bonus!
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To echo Mr FatCats brilliant 'call to arms';
I play because 99% of the time, unlike football, I am not called a c*** in the first 10 seconds by some thug with tattoos who spends most of his weekend snorting coke and smacking his girlfriend around.
I play because no-one dives on the floor and rolls around trying to get someone else sent off.
I play because the invention of stopping a sport midway to have a cup of tea, a round of sandwiches and a slice of cake - is absolute genius!
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Tried all the sports when I was young and I found cricket the most technically challenging. In fact I was rubbish at it, but I enjoyed the training, improved and found that I could also have a laugh in between overs. This comradeship and the good spirit most games were played appealed the most.
I'm still a student of the game and look forward to each game.
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I love everything about the game...from it's storied history, to the stats, to watching it endlessly, to actually playing.
I spent 26 years out if the game and missed it every single day, not thinking I would ever get back to it. Then one day six years ago my wife said "why don't you play?" and I could not really think of a compelling reason why I couldn't (other than being 26 years out of the loop).
Started back up and I absolutely LOVE it!
My team mates are more than half my age...but their good natured banter and support make playing a truly fantastic feeling. When I get a standing ovation from the boys after an important or well played innings, I cannot describe how good that feels. When I am mobbed by my team mates after taking a catch...I am on a high. After we win a game, especially a close or important game, the shared joy is out of this world!
Out on the field, I forget my true age and I feel 20 again....surrounded by guys who are all around that age. My youth and my present seamlessly entwine to give me a sense of continuity of all the great things in life that I have always enjoyed.
So many friendships made out of cricket...it really does bring like minded people together.
For me, the game is not just a game...but, is a metaphor for life itself. It's joys, sorrows, trials, tribulations and ultimately, shared accomplishment. What other game gives you all that?
Having been lucky to put on a number of 100 plus partnerships at the top of the order...that feeling of shared accomplishment and a sense of having done a job for the team in its pursuit of victory is indescribable...but, I know everyone of you here knows exactly what I am talking about.
Life without cricket is unthinkable to me.
From childhood, it was love at first sight...and when they bury me, I hope it is with a bat beside me.
Cricket, I owe you everything.
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I like scoring runs!!
I like winning!!
I like taking catches and stumpings !!
But I would rather work in the industry than play .