Looking down my ‘labels’ to the right, I see that “cricket” is coming last in terms of number. We can’t have that, can we?! With so much cricket on around the world at the moment, here are my (prw) cricket rankings.
These rankings come as I stand outside myself and watch who I support as the top eight nations play each other. And then I sort through the various permutations to create ‘most favoured’ through to ‘least favoured’ country, in terms of my own support.
ONE New Zealand
With each passing year I become a less and less nationalistic and patriotic person. And the latter years of Stephen Fleming’s captaincy hastened this process in the cricketing sphere. I was not a fan of the arrogance he tried to convey. He wanted to be like Steve Waugh but he lacked the team to give such an attitude any credibility. For example, his confrontation with Sangakkara and Jayawardena, towards the end of his career, was a low point in NZ cricket. It was despicable. However, I am a Kiwi and I will always support NZ on the cricket field above everyone else.
TWO India
Ahh, the country of my upbringing. The country which nurtured my love of this, the greatest game. Gavaskar and Vishwanath, Solkar and Abid Ali were the names I lived with as a child. Yes, India has to be #2. However it is no longer straightforward. In my view Indian money – and with it, Indian power – is ruining the game. The only sport which fosters both professional ‘club’ teams and playing for your country is football/soccer. And how does FIFA do it? With an iron fist! With windows in the club schedule for international fixtures. The ICC is no FIFA and it shows. If FIFA has an iron fist, the ICC has a clay pinkie. India runs cricket. No country will be hurt more by the professional Indian club game (IPL) than NZ. I am not sure how long India can stay at #2.
THREE West Indies
Again the influence of my childhood shines through. Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards?! Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts?! These guys had style and they had skill. Unless they are playing NZ or India, I still find myself cheering for the Windies. But they are a shadow of what they once were. It has been sad to watch their decline and the IPL will lubricate that decline at test level, just as it will for NZ. I’d love to see someone wave a wand and have the current group of players suddenly become the 1980s revisited. It ain’t going to happen.
FOUR Sri Lanka
Here is a more contemporary choice. Like it was with many others, it started with the Jayasuriya:Kaluwitharana show opening the batting – with my wonder only increasing when I walked past ‘Kalu’ one day and he was just a slither of a man. But such power in his hitting… While I did not care much for Ranatunga, those who have followed in his wake have had such grace, such intelligence and such a joy in playing the game. The aforementioned Sangakkara and Jayawardena are two of my favourites. I know India’s hold on the #2 spot is tenuous because when India play Sri Lanka I find I lean the way of the latter increasingly.
FIVE England
NZers are not great fans of the ‘mother country’ on the sporting field. The press here is so biased against England. Time and again, a successful England will not make it into the news – but a failing England will almost always make headlines (particularly on the rugby field, it must be said – but with cricket as well). It is a pettiness in the Kiwi press for which I have little patience. Not so for me. England leads the second half of my rankings which I guess means I like to see them win about half the time! I will enjoy watching Broad develop as much as I enjoyed Flintoff and Botham before him. As is the case with Sri Lanka, I think England is on the move upwards…
SIX Pakistan
Being Indian-by-upbringing, this is a big call for me to make – but I think it reflects the contemporary global situation where Pakistan has so few opportunities to play. [And the fact that I am visiting the country a bit and developing a fresh heart for it]. I still find the level of sulking and rivalry and power-plays that goes on inside Pakistani cricket to be a bit playground-ish – but their talent matures so early and so young and I have always loved watching it surface (usually in games against NZ, it must be said … Wasim Akram? Miandad? Inzamam? Umar Akmal?)
SEVEN South Africa
I felt genuine and lingering compassion for the Hansie Cronje mess and this impacted the way I viewed their cricket for a season. Jonty Rhodes was something special. I admired the way they founght their way to the top in these years after readmission. But really – supporting them is not part of my past (as they were still banned in those years) and I do not find that their teams tug away at any heart-strings at all. While I see the place of ‘affirmative action’ selection policies, I think they have tended to overdo it and give the impression – a bit like Pakistan – that cricket is really a projection of national politics. Plus, they frequently choke on the big stage which says something.
EIGHT Australia
When I stand outside myself and watch the Aussies playing any one of the teams from #1 through to #7, I never find myself supporting them! 🙂 So I guess that means they are #8. I don’t think the trans-Tasman rivalry has a lot to do with it as I don’t readily subscribe to it. I like and follow many Aussie sportspeople (their golfers, for example). They are the world’s most prolific sporting nation and I admire this in them. Maybe they are #8 because they are just so successful and I like the underdog… Steve Waugh’s biography was one of the best I have ever read. But there is an ugliness in their cricket over there that many Aussies themselves dislike. With sledging they misapply the words of Jesus, finding it far better ‘to give than to receive’. And then there is the perennial irritant for NZ cricket fans – those sycophantic cricket commentators! Ugh?! When I need some balance from across-the-ditch I shut my ears to Mark Nicholas and go and read another Peter Roebuck column!
nice chatting
Paul
About Me
the art of unpacking
After a childhood in India, a theological training in the USA and a pastoral ministry in Southland (New Zealand), I spent twenty years in theological education in New Zealand — first at Laidlaw College and then at Carey Baptist College, where I served as principal. In 2009 I began working with Langham Partnership and since 2013 I have been the Programme Director (Langham Preaching). Through it all I've cherished the experience of the 'gracious hand of God upon me' and I've relished the opportunity to 'unpack', or exegete, all that I encounter in my walk through life with Jesus.
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Great list. I do this kind of thing with music!
I'm not nearly the cricket- fan that you are Paul, but I've enjoyed it over the years. My first real cricket memory is of Jonty Rhodes doing his Superman dive to run out Inzamam-ul-Haq at the 1992 World Cup. So many of my friends had the poster of Jonty full-stretch on their walls.
Of course, now it's the Black Caps all the way for me! And in that regard, the Chapell-Hadlee series a few years back against the Aussies was probably the best cricket I have seen.
Paul, Paul, Paul,
Thoroughly enjoyed this post (as I do your others!), but this increased the mana behind the man!
Now, you have inspired me to write my own on my blog, but one or two comments on yours…
Stephen Fleming – are you sure it's not becuase he played for Wellington in his twilight years?
India – I'm with you on them being up there, but for me it was because of "the little master". As good as it is, the IPL is definitely ruining Test cricket all over the world.
The Windies – I worry that either the 5th decade of your life is getting the better of you (!) or that Sir Viv had a far longer career than I realised, because I remember him in my childhood too! Ah, he was a genius. Curtley & Courtney were too, but I'm sure you were at least in your 30s by then!
Disappointed that SA are so low in your rankings, but I'm with you on your number 8! My rankings will appear later…
Maybe we could do Test grounds as another post?
Shock horror – I didn't have you on 'my blog list', Ben. I do now!
Did you like my Mark Nicholas Peter Roebuck punchline – a subtle one with a touch of irony about it, don't you think?
And Rhett – your first real memory is of Jonty Rhodes… you do have youth on your side, don't you?! Mine is of Sunil Gavaskar hitting double hundreds in the Carribean.
Oh Ben – while on the subject of sport (and knowing your love of rugby league) … how on earth is it possible that an aging rugby league player who didn't show that much pzzazz with the Warriors can end up – almost a decade later – in the England rugby UNION team? [Shontayne Hape)
I've never been able to take the UK league and union scene that seriously because of the they recruit aging stars from down-under who go up-over and become stars all over again. Go figure!
Paul,
Yes – definitely enjoyed your Mark Nicholas/Peter Roebuck comments, though I obviously enjoy Mark Nicholas' commentary a bit more than you!
And as for your comments on RL & Shontayne Hape. I'm as disappointed by it as you – he's an ex-Bradford Bulls player, so from rival territory for me!
I think the answer to your question about how they can wash up on UK shores & play in the Union Premiership & Super League is in your final comment – "Go figure" – usually it's a pound sign with a lot of figures after it!
Was sorry to have missed Pieter Kwant on his visit to you. My sister used to work with him.
Oh Paul!
This is deeply, deeply disappointing! Having just watched Ponting yesterday claw through to a half century without timing a single pull stroke, getting clonked on the head, and then suddenly flick a switch and have everything suddenly be like it was three years ago, I don't know how you could miss the beauty, the passion, the sheer class of the Australian way of playing cricket. Is there anything more beautiful than a Mike Hussey cover drive? Or the sheer athleticism and grace of Brett Lee's run up – and he can't even get in the team at the moment. Even sledging – while I don't really want to defend it, and particularly not some of the more recent examples – there is some style to it … ("Hey Jardine, leave our flies alone." "Daryll, I've waited so long for this moment. I'm going to send you straight back to that leather couch.") Maybe you have to be Australian to get it. However, Peter Roebuck is Australian too, after all. And even Kiwis that tend towards being somewhat one-eyed seem to appreciate him!
p.s. Enjoyed the rest of the list.
"Cricket is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" (Stephen Fry)
Oops- I thought I had read that Roebuck had taken up Australian citizenship, but it appears I've got that wrong – sorry.
(There's nothing worse than inaccurate irony, really.)
But Greg, oh Greg, I have this capacity to admire a Ponting pull shot and a Lee rhythmic run-up without ever, ever having to support it!
Just came across this, so maybe you're right.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/the-team-its-hard-to-fall-in-love-with-20100116-mddp.html
Seems like a fair article – not as dismissive as me! 🙂 But picking up similar points, like the admiration for Steve Waugh…