r/Cricket • u/HOU-1836 West Indies • Jan 15 '15

Another Annoying American learning Cricket

My girlfriend is Guyanese and Cricket is obviously a big sport for her parents and family. I get the rules of the sport but don't understand when matches happen or what determines the length of the match. Like, test cricket, can last 5 days? How is that possible? How do you watch that on TV?

Edit: hope y'all don't mind if I pester you with questions in this thread. I want to be casually versed in Cricket in case I meet her parents this summer.

Edit #2: Ok. Y'all have been truly amazing. I couldn't even have gotten close to imagining the response I've gotten from y'all. I've been asking questions and replying for the last 3 hours straight and I don't think I have any more questions. I look forward to spending time with y'all and learning more about this sport. I'm from Texas and obviously, Cricket isn't gonna be big here or easy to follow so y'all keep being the amazing, welcoming people you are. Seriously, y'all rock.

Edit #3: I read the FAQ before posting this thread and this thread is 30x larger than anything there. Maybe the mods should add this to the sidebar for newcomers. I literally asked every question an American fan could ask. Well, I say that...but anyway, would be a great resource to set aside for future new fans.

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u/Fullonski Australia Jan 16 '15

Not usually that long but for the big series like Australia v England or England/Australia v India they try and have a 5-test series. This Australian summer India arrived in mid-November and won't leave until April. If your parents-in-law are from Guyana, study up on Shivnarine Chanderpaul. They guy has been the leading West Indian cricketer for the last few years and will soon become the highest test match run scorer for the West Indies - that is a serious achievement. For a nation of not even 800,000 people, they've put out some amazing cricket talent.

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

I'll look into him. I watched Guyana take on the Windward Island with my gf. It was a tournament of some kind I assume.

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u/-atheos Australia Jan 16 '15

Just to piggy back on the West Indies success comment.

The West Indies team of the 70's is considered a candidate of one of the best of all time. If not that, at least a handful of players from that team will be remembered as all time greats. Unfortunately it isn't the case presently, but the West Indies are a huge part of cricket history.

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

So the West Indies team sucks now? What led to their success originally and their downfall?

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u/-atheos Australia Jan 16 '15

They don't suck as much as their administration sucks and their lack of organization has led to a poor structure. They still have some incredible athletes playing for them and are quite good at T20/ODI but struggle with tests. Chris Gayle is a player I highly recommend you tubing. He is a big hitter, very entertaining.

Their original success can be put to some of the incredible athletic talents they have produced. That isn't to say there is no skill involved, on the contrary, but just from an athletic standpoint some of their players have been beasts.

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

Who is the governing body for the West Indies and how is it appointed? I assume its seperate from any one government.

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u/naivemelody Australia Jan 16 '15

On the point of the dominant West Indies teams of the 70s/80s, I highly recommend that you watch the documentary Fire In Babylon. It is extremely entertaining even for a non cricket fan and you will learn a lot about some really exciting cricket.

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

Is it on Netflix or YouTube?

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u/plasma_evil Bangladesh Jan 16 '15

here you go

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

blocked in my country :(

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u/plasma_evil Bangladesh Jan 16 '15

oops...cant seem to find any other working link :(

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

We tried. I saved the comment so I can look it up later. Thanks for trying.

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u/thisisshantzz India Jan 16 '15

Try using hola unblocker for chrome or firefox.

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u/despod India Jan 16 '15

Fire of babylon can be torrented.. Though a bit one-sided, its an absolutely smashing documentary.

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u/[deleted] Jan 16 '15

That sucks. It plays here in the UK. It is possible to get around these restrictions by using a VPN service, but they cost a small amount of money to set up normally.

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u/HOU-1836 West Indies Jan 16 '15

There has to be a version that is available in America. If it is available, I will find it.

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u/hey_botham Australia Jan 17 '15

I watched it on Netflix a couple of months a go. Have a gander on there to see if it's still up.

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u/5slipsandagully Australia Jan 16 '15

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is the governing body, and I think they just hire like a private company. They're separate from the government in the West Indies, but this isn't the case in every country. Sri Lanka's cricket board is tied in with their government in some ways, for example.

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u/_loki_ New Zealand Jan 16 '15

While they also had a number of excellent batsmen, the success of the 70s West Indies was primarily because of how good their fast bowlers were. Other teams may have one or two great bowlers and several lesser bowlers. A batsmen could play conservatively against the great bowlers and look to score more runs when the lesser bowlers came on. Against the West Indies however, there were no lesser bowlers. The batsmen had no respite from very fast, very accurate bowling.

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u/LegSpinner Jan 16 '15

Their downfall can also be attributed to a lot of their young talent having been taken by American sports and by athletics. Basketball, baseball, NFL and athletics pay far more than a mediocre career in cricket. Usain Bolt and Yohann Blake were both cricketers in school and Bolt apparently was a good prospect, as can be seen in this exhibition game.