I'm a huge sports fan and watch more professional and non-professional sports than anyone I know. But when you love sports like this, there are naturally always a few that just get pushed to the backburner until you feel like you have time or interest to get more into them. Cricket is one such sport. My basic understanding means I have rather boring, mundane, and probably obvious questions but that will help me understand it in context of other sports I watch. And with that in mind, here are the things I don't get that are impeding my understanding of the sport as a televised event, as an organised sport, etc because frankly, rules I can probably just watch videos for...
Is this a sport like Rugby in that the average, more mainstream fans seem more interested in the National teams than the club level?
Is there a televised English "premier" League from which players are chosen to play for England?
If only the International ICC tournaments are what matters, how do you actually "follow" cricket? In terms of a yearly season that begins and ends a campaign where teams compete. For example, in Football, I can follow United, Real Madrid, and have a general sense of how the leagues I am interested in are doing, I can see the better teams face off in the Champions League, I can look for those players in International Cups. The season ends, I get a sense of what happened in 2023-24. In Basketball, I can watch the NBA and WNBA every year and get a sense of what teams do well from year to year, the trajectories of the careers of particular players, which of those players play internationally, etc etc. What am I... actually following... when I follow Cricket? What's the "season"? As someone brought up on very Western/North American sports league models, this particular question eludes me. I understand it may be a tough one to answer.
As with Rugby Union and Rugby League or NFL and CFL, are there different "types" of Cricket? Or different match types? I've seen some matches that apparently can take days and others that are intended for being completed sooner but I don't understand any of that.
Does anyone know of a particularly good video/site that does a good job of explaining rules, game laws, what stats matter, etc?
Is there ANY Cricket video game worth playing? A lot of my sports interest is coupled with being a big fan of sports gaming.
Thank you!!
Is this a sport like Rugby in that the average, more mainstream fans seem more interested in the National teams than the club level?
Is there a televised English "premier" League from which players are chosen to play for England?
If only the International ICC tournaments are what matters, how do you actually "follow" cricket? In terms of a yearly season that begins and ends a campaign where teams compete. For example, in Football, I can follow United, Real Madrid, and have a general sense of how the leagues I am interested in are doing, I can see the better teams face off in the Champions League, I can look for those players in International Cups. The season ends, I get a sense of what happened in 2023-24. In Basketball, I can watch the NBA and WNBA every year and get a sense of what teams do well from year to year, the trajectories of the careers of particular players, which of those players play internationally, etc etc. What am I... actually following... when I follow Cricket? What's the "season"? As someone brought up on very Western/North American sports league models, this particular question eludes me. I understand it may be a tough one to answer.
As with Rugby Union and Rugby League or NFL and CFL, are there different "types" of Cricket? Or different match types? I've seen some matches that apparently can take days and others that are intended for being completed sooner but I don't understand any of that.
Does anyone know of a particularly good video/site that does a good job of explaining rules, game laws, what stats matter, etc?
Is there ANY Cricket video game worth playing? A lot of my sports interest is coupled with being a big fan of sports gaming.
Thank you!!
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