Game of cricket can be treated as an art and it gives a special enjoyment for spectators . We watch it for entertainment also.we need batsmen like Dravid ,Kallis bowlers like Mcgrath ,Pollock ...But no one can enjoy the world full of Kallises and Mcgraths .We need people like Sachin ,Lara ,Donald ,Wasim..also .That mixed bag is the beauty .I like artists in the cricket because of that extra sensuality they bring. .
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Cricket as an art form
- Thread starter pasag
- Start date
archie mac
International Coach
I agree to a point, but that does not explain why cricket has so many more books written about it then any other sport?
ohtani's jacket
State Vice-Captain
I would've thought they'd be just as many books about baseball. There's no denying that cricket writing is a big part of the game's history. Whether having a lot of books written about a subject makes that subject an art, I'm not sure. I imagine any sport that requires technique and form could be viewed as an art. I mean, if Lara hits a beautiful shot is it a form of self-expression or just perfect form? Where is the artistry -- in the form or in the mind of the batsman? It seems to me that with each ball Lara is making a bunch of a decisions that are far removed from art. Anyone who says the ground or pitch is Lara's canvas or an innings his symphony is getting carried away, IMO. Many of the best artists viewed themselves as craftsmen. I prefer that analogy. Cricket is a trade. Perhaps it rises to art sometimes, like architecture, but 99% of the time the batsmen are plying a trade.
And NZ are shoddy tradesmen at the moment. Get someone else to build your house.
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
Its an interesting debate ... and I have no intention of joining in 
Here are a couple of interesting quotes about spin bowling being an art form though.
Arthur Maily was repriminded by the Australian Manager, on the 1930 tour of England for giving advice to the England spinner, Ian Peebles. Mailey responded
and Ray Illingworth in Spin Bowling calls it an art but says everything that proves its a just a craft
Here are a couple of interesting quotes about spin bowling being an art form though.
Arthur Maily was repriminded by the Australian Manager, on the 1930 tour of England for giving advice to the England spinner, Ian Peebles. Mailey responded
Slow bowling is an art Mr. Kelly and art is international.
and Ray Illingworth in Spin Bowling calls it an art but says everything that proves its a just a craft
The great thing about spin bowling is that it is an art form which can be learnt. In that sense it is different from fast bowling. A fast bowler either has the natural ability to hurl the ball down quickly or he hasn't. And if he can't do it, there is no way you can coach it into him. The reverse is true of spin bowling. I believe you can learn it from scratch.
archie mac
International Coach
SJS
Hall of Fame Member
When people say cricket is an art or more often that slow bowling is an art or that Woolley was an artist, of course they don't mean art as in art. We don't have to get into the semantics and consult dictionaries and use that to prove or disprove the premise.
What a writer is doing when calling a cricketer's skill an art form or a cricketer as an artist, is expressing an appreciation for a visually appealing display of a master's skill. Surely some bowlers look so much more graceful and are easier on the eye than others. Surely Bedi and Underwood would evoke different response from a writer prone to lyrical prose. Surely no one would call Nickie Boje's bowling, 'poetry in motion' while they would very well do the same for Bedi's. Surely Laxman evokes different response from us than , say, Alan Border.
Thats all one is saying when calling a players visual appeal as poetic or term his skills as an art form.
Nothing more nothing less.
It is a craft and a skill but there are those who will display their skill with an inherent beauty in it like Woolley and Gower and Ranji and others who, master craftsmen of the highest order themselves, appear very efficient and brutally efficient but never a joy to the visual senses - Bradman is a prime example of these latter master craftsmen.
Art or craft take your pick.
What a writer is doing when calling a cricketer's skill an art form or a cricketer as an artist, is expressing an appreciation for a visually appealing display of a master's skill. Surely some bowlers look so much more graceful and are easier on the eye than others. Surely Bedi and Underwood would evoke different response from a writer prone to lyrical prose. Surely no one would call Nickie Boje's bowling, 'poetry in motion' while they would very well do the same for Bedi's. Surely Laxman evokes different response from us than , say, Alan Border.
Thats all one is saying when calling a players visual appeal as poetic or term his skills as an art form.
Nothing more nothing less.
It is a craft and a skill but there are those who will display their skill with an inherent beauty in it like Woolley and Gower and Ranji and others who, master craftsmen of the highest order themselves, appear very efficient and brutally efficient but never a joy to the visual senses - Bradman is a prime example of these latter master craftsmen.
Art or craft take your pick.
archie mac
International Coach
Reminds me of Sir Richard Hadlee !!
Fiery
Banned
You're a man of great taste and impeccable moral fibre Fraz
I remember the success of "Lagaan" !
Barney Rubble
International Coach
This is what I don't like about explaining the game to my French students. I could show them the Ashes 2005 DVD a thousand times and they'd never understand why Shane Warne is a genius, or exactly how much it meant to me and to the rest of the country when we won back the Ashes. I hate having to explain the game in purely pragmatic terms - not only is it very difficult 'cause the rules of cricket are something I've known since I was six years old, but it completely ruins the poetry of it and I can never explain why I love it so much.
neville cardus
International Debutant
And I can only hope that the below is not directed at me:And no, I didn't think you directed it at me
neville cardus
International Debutant
I cannot recall anyone saying that were.
neville cardus
International Debutant
Its an interesting debate ... and I have no intention of joining in
Here are a couple of interesting quotes about spin bowling being an art form though.
Arthur Maily was repriminded by the Australian Manager, on the 1930 tour of England for giving advice to the England spinner, Ian Peebles.
Peebles was very good at extracting advice from his betters. He once drew similar censure from Sydney Barnes when the press got wind of the master-class the legend gave him in the middle of a rainy Test Match.
Thank you !You're a man of great taste and impeccable moral fibre Fraz
Fiery
Banned
Don't mention it