How to Enjoy Watching Cricket

A Brief Guide to Getting the Most Out of the Gentleman's Sport

Aug 14, 2009

Cricket can be confusing a lot of the time, but is a different experience when watched live instead of on the television. Here is how to make the most of it.

Cricket is, to many, an utterly incomprehensible spectacle. The rules are many and complicated, and a test match can last for five days and still end up in a draw. One day internationals, and then 20-20 cricket, have gone some way to regaining some lost popularity, but the test match remains the purest form of the sport. This brief guide seeks to help you get the most out of attending a test match, without the need to understand the rules.

Generous Applause for Good Play

While standing and cheering does happen at the cricket, for the most part polite applause is used to greet any particularly good moment of play. As a general rule if the ball leaves the field of play (i.e. is hit to, and over, the boundary line) then applause is to be expected. This is also the case if a batsman reaches fifty runs, and if he reaches a hundred runs then standing while applauding is the norm.

A batsman being given out (for example by being bowled or caught) also leads to applause for the fielding side, and if the batsman has had what is known as a 'good knock' (either a high score, or a particularly exciting, fast-scoring, but low runs innings) then he will also receive applause as he leaves the field of play.

It should be noted that in cricket applause is not reserved for those in the team which you support, but is to be given magnanimously to all who perform well. If one of your batsmen is given out you are obviously allowed a brief moment to shake your head and be disappointed, but this should not distract from the applause then to be offered to the fielding side.

You could be forgiven for thinking that a cricket test match will be nothing but constant applause, but rest assured there are periods in matches when not much is happening at all, and you should use these moments to rest your hands.

Dressing Up in Odd Costumes

Watching a test match in England (and Wales) will normally see a cross-section of the crowd dressing up. The majority of those dressing up will be male, and a large proportion will be dressed up as women. Perhaps it reveals something about the underlying psyche of the England cricket fan.

It is customary, when one member of a dressed up group has left momentarily (for example to go to the toilet or for more beer, it is also customary for those dressing up to consume large amounts of alcohol), he must be cheered on his return by his companions, the cheer often accompanied by a witty song related to either the returning member's sexual prowess or questioning 'who are ya?' followed by a sound not dissimilar to 'whhhhaaaaarrrrggghhhh!'

Test Match Special on the Radio

TMS (to give the oft-used acronym) is a national institution. The many and varied commentators, who switch around on a rota-system possibly matched to the need for a nap, will chat on air about pigeons on the field, cakes that have been sent in to the show, the weather, and occasionally the cricket.

The show can be found on Radio 4 Long Wave, or Radio 5 Live Extra. Small radios are sold at the ground for listening to TMS, which clip onto your ear, with a cord hanging round your neck, and these are perfect if you want to look a bit stupid while watching the cricket.

The Heavy Consumption of Beer

When all else fails beer is always in plentiful supply at cricket grounds. Wine and Pimms are also available, but beer can supply more fun than simply getting plastered.

The 'glasses' are naturally made out of plastic, and once empty, rather than let them accumulate in the stands, many comedic types will take the opportunity to stack the 'glasses' into a giant 'beer snake' which the stewards will then try to take out of their possession. The fans will cheer as the holder of the snake evades the stewards, and then boo as he is caught, then cheer again as the snake collapses, dropping stale beer on unsuspecting members of the crowd who had been ignoring the japes and watching the cricket.

By the time beer snakes have made an appearance the crowd may also be attempting to indulge in Mexican waves, hitting beach balls about the stand, letting off balloons to try and land them on the pitch, and generally realising that they weren't there for the cricket at all and could have gone en masse to a public park and saved 50 quid.

Application of Lots of Suncream

You would think this would be a fairly obvious rule to enjoy the cricket, but the amount of lobster red spectators leaving a ground at the end of the day's play displays how many people don't know this basic rule.

Even on an overcast day, sitting outside all day will lead to you turning pinker than Barbie's car. Suncream will help to combat this, and if you want to emulate your cricketing heroes on the field you can even apply sunblock to your nose and around your lips, turning you into some sort of strange minstrel show replica.

Conclusion

So there you have it. A brief guide to the essentials you need to get the most out of the test match experience. If you are interested in wanting to know what is happening on the pitch a future guide will be penned covering the differing signals from umpires, England batting collapses and sledging.

The copyright of the article How to Enjoy Watching Cricket in Cricket is owned by Anthony Robson. Permission to republish How to Enjoy Watching Cricket in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.