My name is Candice Krieger and I am a cricket convert.
My dad and brother have long been cricket devotees but I had never really shared their absolute affection and enthusiasm for the sport, which I had always deemed a bit boring. Until this weekend that is. Wow. What an awesome display: Trott’s innings, Broad’s bowling and Freddie’s run-out. A historic victory and with a day to spare. There may have been two London football derbies being played yesterday, but I could not turn my attention away from the Ashes.
In fact, thinking about it, there are many reasons (some more generalised than others) why cricket is better than football:
1) Lunch and tea is an actual part of the game
2) The phrases “at the end of the day” and “you know” rarely make it into a cricketer’s post-match interview
3) Taking a cricket ball in the face is far more impressive than taking a football
4) The Aussies are good at cricket but not so hot at football
5) Cricket is far more genteel
6) Cricketers dive to take a catch. Footballers dive for no reason.
7) James Anderson
8) Cricketers can play for five days straight - footballers are all finished before they hit the two-hour mark
9) A cricket team can score 500. A football team would be hard-pushed to score five. 10) Brian Johnston’s memorable gaffe: “The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey”. It referred to Michael Holding of the West Indies when he was bowling to Peter Willey of England in a Test match at The Oval in 1976. Howzat?!
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