09/07/24
June 29, 2004
Blink And You'll Miss It!: Finally, Pro Cricket is coming to the USA! With eight teams and a revamped scoring system (Designated hitters! Shortened matches! Five deliveries an over! What are they, crazy?), this seems to be the big push for cricket into the American mainstream!
The second tier of international players are largely showing up for it, and the backers claim to have deep pockets and a realistic business plan! Is this the "start of a US Cricket Century," or merely a deluded money hole for some lonely expats?
posted by chicobangs to extreme at 11:54 AM - 10 comments
thanks for the links. i saw this mentioned somewhere (maybe the SI yankees site?) and meant to look into it. if i wasn't moving this weekend i'd check out one of the games.
posted by goddam at 12:32 PM on June 29, 2004
Sounds a lot like Twenty 20 Cricket to me.
posted by squealy at 12:51 PM on June 29, 2004
Ok ... who's up for fantasy cricket?
posted by jasonspaceman at 12:52 PM on June 29, 2004
I don't want to sound all sniffy, but that ain't cricket, old chap.
posted by Fat Buddha at 01:14 PM on June 29, 2004
I can't stand Test cricket myself, but I have to admit, Twenty20 was quite fun last year. Judging by the crowds, I'm not the only one. I could understand it if the Americans tried that.
posted by salmacis at 01:27 PM on June 29, 2004
As someone who knows only a bit about the game, I wouldn't mind learning some more about it. chicobangs, check out this earlier thread
posted by togdon at 03:54 PM on June 29, 2004
Yeah, I remembered that thread (in fact, those links are where about 90% of my cricket knowledge comes from), but I just haven't seen enough to really have a feel for it yet, is all. And I'm questioning how much time and energy I want to spend to learn more than I now know about it. Because I too am a dumb North American with the attention span of a hummingbird. You know. I freely admit that. Maybe the sexing up of the game like this will help me get off the fence about it. Do you think this new league is gonna get me there? Do we know anything about the principals involved in the new league? How reputable/well-connected are they? Do we know? Who are these people, anyway?
posted by chicobangs at 04:06 PM on June 29, 2004
*silently weeping*
posted by JJ at 03:37 AM on June 30, 2004
There's already a pretty vibrant cricket league in Northern California, fuelled in part by the number of south Asian immigrants involved in Silicon Valley tech. They're playing limited-overs 45-over matches. (The kids of Caribbean immigrants, by way of contrast, tend to end up playing basketball: UConn/Chicago's Ben Gordon being a prime example. He's British-born, of course, making him a rare commodity in the NBA.) I suspect that local leagues are the way to go, though, with a strong youth/grassroots element; this pro league looks a little bit dog-and-pony show, judging from the site. What I want to know is where little Sanjay and Imran get their kit...
posted by etagloh at 03:40 AM on June 30, 2004
As someone who knows only a bit about the game, I wouldn't mind learning some more about it. This just seems like they're going to bastardize it into something not quite like the original game in a misguided attempt to rock-and-roll it up for the kids. I figured I'd ask y'all who might know better than me: How much of a difference would this new Pro Cricket be from the real international game? And do these people have a chance to break the game in the States right now? (And sorry about the Extreme tag. That was just hubris.)