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Entertainment V Victory

What is your priority as a Cricket fan?


  • Total voters
    40

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Something I've been wanting to ask on CW for a while.

I was wondering what you guys would rather see, a victory for your team or a thrilling match that your team loses? I know the Aussies have discussed similar things before; some genuinenly enjoyed the 05 Ashes more than the 06/07 Ashes.

For me personally, I would rather see my team win ugly than lose pretty, that goes for all my teams in all sports. I find it hard to be entertained if my team is getting beat, and even if a match (in any sport) is a thriller, if it results in defeat for us, I wear a :@ for hours, maybe even days, I don't sit there and think, "wow what have I just seen."

Last summer, I was talking to someone online (won't name them but they are a CWer) and it was the first day of the footy season. We had been getting tonked by India, and I said that it would be a relief to get to the footy as it gave me a bit of a breather from the tonking. They suggested I was turning my back on my tea, I tried to explain, far from it, I just can't bear to see us being turned over, even when it's by greatness. As a Cricket fan, the 06-07 Ashes were the pits, Australia were fantastic, I don't dispute that but I cannot enjoy greatness when it is at my expense.

Don't get me wrong, i appreciate great players and great play, and at the end of a great contest where England have been beaten, I try my best to be gracious (:ph34r:). I can marvel at how good someone from the opposition is, but I would still rather see them fail.

This isn't me being one-eyed, I hope people don't see it that way. To me, victory is the most important thing in Cricket, and in sport, and that's what I signed up for. But I reckon we'll have a lot of people here who would rather watch their team lose a thriller, henceforth, I made the thread.
 

pasag

RTDAS
The contest and entertainment of the game is more important, for me, unless it comes to England. Don't ever want to lose to England, ever. Ideally though, my team would win everything and it'd be on the back of thrilling matches, having the best of both worlds.
 

99*

International Debutant
Depends on the situation, overall I'd rather see a great game than a blowout/easy win (Oh, but not against Australia.) but if it a semi or grand final I'd want NZ to win no matter what.
 

_Ed_

Request Your Custom Title Now!
An entertaining contest is more important IMO. I love the sports I'm interested in more than anyone playing them.

I prefer NZ to not play embarrassingly badly though, which happens remarkably often when I go to games. :(
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
The contest and entertainment of the game is more important, for me, unless it comes to England. Don't ever want to lose to England, ever. Ideally though, my team would win everything and it'd be on the back of thrilling matches, having the best of both worlds.
Yeah, I thought you would be in that camp. Seem to remember you stating once before, Cricket>Australia, AFL>carlton (?is that right?)
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Style, substance and content of a game are all valuable.

However, they dont compare to the importance of winning. Its the reason the game is played.

The only truly important thing is winning but it is devalued if achieved 'at all costs' and against certain ways the sport should be played. It becomes tainted.
 

Mister Wright

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I prefer to be entertained. Except in S.O.O. games. Would rather win 100-0 than see us lose 6-4, as winning 100-0 would be really entertaining.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Winning is important, but I can enjoy a great contest. I enjoyed the Kanpur and Ahemdabad Test in the recently finished series. I hated it in Ahemdabad while it was happening, but I was still enthralled by some great performances.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Hmm, as much I try not to be a fanboy, I think in the end my answer is the 2nd.

For eg. this match/

Very good ODI to watch, and Australia's defence of such a small total, and come back when the game looked gone, was unbelievable. Showed they truly are a champion team.

Yet when India lost that game I just sat on the couch without moving for 20 minutes pissed off at how my team could lose from such a position.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Such a difficult question.

TBH I usually get bored if any team wins too often, at any level of cricket, from international to club. But I've never experienced a team which is my team doing such a thing. If this was Exeter Cricket Club, I cannot conceive I'd get tired of us winning every game of a season even if it did go on for 10 years. But then maybe I'd feel differently if it happened. Likewise with England. Neither has ever looked like happening, of course, and it's pretty unlikely to do so any time soon, as one team dominating the cricket scene is exceptionally rare, and the last time England did it was the 19th-century, which doesn't exactly count IMO for any number of reasons.

I'd have to say that, much as poor quality cricket is a turn-off, I honestly don't think I could ever enjoy an England defeat - at least in a Test match. Nor a failure to win a game that should have been won - eg, SCG 1990/91. And this latter is worse still if it's a game that's had time lost - eg, Lord's 2007, Old Trafford 2005, Trent Bridge 2002, Basin Reserve 2001/02, Edgbaston 1998, Kensington Oval 1998, SCG 1994/95, Trinidad 1990. One thing I certainly don't enjoy though is seeing England saved by lost play - eg, Galle 2007/08 AND 2003/04, Edgbaston 2003, Trent Bridge 2000, Old Trafford 1999, The 'Gabba 1998/99, Lord's 1997. I imagine most England fans positively revelled in these games - I certainly didn't, such escapes feel very hollow indeed to me.

I can certainly enjoy a good-quality draw involving England - including a drawn series. And I'll always be absolutely thrilled by an escape that doesn't owe to the weather - eg, Old Trafford 1998. One of the most delighted I've ever been after a game of cricket. But I don't think I can ever genuinely enjoy a defeat, never mind a series defeat.

In ODIs I only ever really care about the results of the games in World Cups, though.

Where Yorkshire are concerned, on the other hand, every game means something and like England Tests the game can be as good as you like (not that I often get the chance to watch), and defeat will remain a massive disappointment.
 

Langeveldt

Soutie
Winning at all costs.. If I watch an entertaining game and we get beaten, I'm usually more upset than if we just get wiped out.. Love see us play boring cricket and grind a team down, which used to happen all the time
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
Basically, I think I'll have to go for the irrelevant. I'll never venture to an "at all costs" mentality, but as I say - I couldn't ever really enjoy a failure (be it defeat or missed victory).
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
Such a difficult question.

TBH I usually get bored if any team wins too often, at any level of cricket, from international to club. But I've never experienced a team which is my team doing such a thing. If this was Exeter Cricket Club, I cannot conceive I'd get tired of us winning every game of a season even if it did go on for 10 years. But then maybe I'd feel differently if it happened. Likewise with England. Neither has ever looked like happening, of course, and it's pretty unlikely to do so any time soon, as one team dominating the cricket scene is exceptionally rare, and the last time England did it was the 19th-century, which doesn't exactly count IMO for any number of reasons.

I'd have to say that, much as poor quality cricket is a turn-off, I honestly don't think I could ever enjoy an England defeat - at least in a Test match. Nor a failure to win a game that should have been won - eg, SCG 1990/91. And this latter is worse still if it's a game that's had time lost - eg, Lord's 2007, Old Trafford 2005, Trent Bridge 2002, Basin Reserve 2001/02, Edgbaston 1998, Kensington Oval 1998, SCG 1994/95, Trinidad 1990. One thing I certainly don't enjoy though is seeing England saved by lost play - eg, Galle 2007/08 AND 2003/04, Edgbaston 2003, Trent Bridge 2000, Old Trafford 1999, The 'Gabba 1998/99, Lord's 1997. I imagine most England fans positively revelled in these games - I certainly didn't, such escapes feel very hollow indeed to me.

I can certainly enjoy a good-quality draw involving England - including a drawn series. And I'll always be absolutely thrilled by an escape that doesn't owe to the weather - eg, Old Trafford 1998. One of the most delighted I've ever been after a game of cricket. But I don't think I can ever genuinely enjoy a defeat, never mind a series defeat.

In ODIs I only ever really care about the results of the games in World Cups, though.

Where Yorkshire are concerned, on the other hand, every game means something and like England Tests the game can be as good as you like (not that I often get the chance to watch), and defeat will remain a massive disappointment.
Yeah, this is the thing for me. The teams I care about most in sport, that's Tranmere Rovers and the England Cricket team, have never been the most successful, I don't know if I would feel differently if they did win all the time and cry out for entertainment. The fact that some competitive Aussies enjoyed the 05 Ashes so much suggests that when you win all the time, a thrilling defeat can bring out different feelings in sport for you. But as Goughy said, winning is why you play sport.

In hindsight though, at all costs was probably the wrong choice of words. Ah well. :)
 

Neil Pickup

Cricket Web Moderator
Contrasting two recent ECFC results:

January, FAT3, Rushden 3 City 0. We were utter ****e. Most entertaining part was singing "we're gonna win 4-3".
Tuesday, BSP, City 1 Aldershot 1. Excellent game of football. Well matched. Conceded soft goal. Incredibly pissed off.

Sorry, winning please.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
The win, the whole win and nothing but the win.

Between other teams, no probs with an emphasis on the entertainment value, but when Australia play, it's about winning to me. Obviously prefer it if they do it in an entertaining way, but if I have to make a choice, the win every time.

We have this discussion in Australia re. rugby. These people always carry on about "running rugby" and the Australian way of playing expansive - we played expansive for about 3 years when Mark Ella was 5/8. Then we throw the ball around, make mistakes and get flogged. Let 'em play winning rugby, not attractive rugby, imo.
 
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