Does a ''real'' cricket fan have to hate LOI and/or consider them irrelevant?

[Dan]

If the option is to get 10,000 teenagers watching cricket through T20 and ODIs only, so be it. Their interest in cricket through that medium is important too, and their interest in cricket is very much real and genuine.

Gets fans into the game, and eventually quite a number will graduate to watching the real stuff.

 

[Daemon]

Will admit there have been plenty of limited overs games that have entertained me more than some of the days of Test cricket I've watched. That said, I'm much more emotionally invested in any Test we play than nearly every single ODI barring an ODI WC match or two, the outcomes of Tests just hold a lot more significance for me.

 

[ohnoitsyou]

I actually prefer watching LO, but I put the most emotional investment into tests.

 

[KiWiNiNjA]

Fair enough........but do you disagree with my statement above on those cricket watchers falling into category 5 not being "true" cricket fans?

Yes, I disagree.

Who am I to say whether somebody is a "true" fan of anything?
If they are a fan of cricket, then they are a cricket fan. End of.

 

[fredfertang]

If the option is to get 10,000 teenagers watching cricket through T20 and ODIs only, so be it. Their interest in cricket through that medium is important too, and their interest in cricket is very much real and genuine.

Gets fans into the game, and eventually quite a number will graduate to watching the real stuff.

I think this is a good point - no one who loves Test cricket is going to desert the 5 day game because they suddenly get into T20, but on the other hand there will be some who can't abide the idea of Test cricket, but don't mind the hit and giggle, but who with constant exposure to it will realise that there is more to cricket than the quick knee trembler and join the rest of us

.............. and another thing about T20 is that although I'm not keen, Mrs Fertang didn't realise that, so if it was on the tv she just used to leave me to it and got off my back, so it definitely has its uses (even if the bitch and I are now divorced)

 

[Adders]

Yes, I disagree.

Who am I to say whether somebody is a "true" fan of anything?
If they are a fan of cricket, then they are a cricket fan. End of.

Yeah look, I think it is this term "true fan" that is ****ing with this debate and taking any credibility away from what I am trying to say. It just sounds elitist and like I am looking down on the T20 fans.......which I'm not.

Going back to my basic categories, No 5 the LO only fans. I believe they are fans of an offshoot of cricket and a development of the game, sure they are fans of that particular form but that doesn't make them fans of the sport of cricket. As you say who am I to judge because they prefer the spectacle of T20 and not the time honored traditions of test cricket.......that's their call to make.

I just can't get my head around anyone that would say I love cricket but I hate tests, they don't love cricket.......they love a modern adaption which is a limited stripped down version of the game. Surely if you love cricket you must at the very least appreciate it in its purest form??

It's like someone saying they love fine food and their favourite meal is a Big Mac and fries.

Dan and Burgey have made some very good points in this thread, and I agree with them in the benefits of LO cricket in getting the kids involved or test cricket evolving due to skills learnt from the shorter form (although I do think T20 may be starting to do the reverse but that's another argument) I'm really not dissing the shorter formats and there is an important place in the sport for them, but test cricket is and should be top of the tree and I'd question anyones love for the game overall that thinks otherwise.

 

[the big bambino]

Burgey got in first with the point I'd like to make abt the influence of LOIs on tests. Not only increased run rates (and I can remember the 200 runs a day crawls in tests) but it has taught players to chase down big targets. It has also created an emphasis on good fielding and improved that aspect of cricket. It carved out a new audience for cricket and put the game under lights. It has improved skills by innovating with shot play and bowling deliveries. It has provided young players with an entrée to international competition.

I tend to look at other forms of cricket as to how beneficial they are to tests. So while I respect LOI cricket I'm only interested in the World Cup as a contest in that format. Personally, I don't care for any T20 contest. I don't rate it much as entertainment either. It is a formula that only has a chance of working if the pitch provides for a slug fest and even then if the 1st innings is too big can kill the contest very early when the 2nd innings loses quick wickets in pursuit of the large total. T20 only has a kind of appeal for me as long as its played amongst franchises. So I'll watch the BBL or IPL. (Besides it is cricket after all). Even then I need an inducement like being in a tipping comp or betting on the outcome to sustain any interest in the match.

 

[Hurricane]

Will admit there have been plenty of limited overs games that have entertained me more than some of the days of Test cricket I've watched. That said, I'm much more emotionally invested in any Test we play than nearly every single ODI barring an ODI WC match or two, the outcomes of Tests just hold a lot more significance for me.

2 years ago you said T20 was your preferred format iirc and if I am correct then you would be an example of a fan that started with a limited overs format.

Am I right Daemon? I can find the quote if I try hard enough I think.

 

[DingDong]

obviously happier when the kiwis win a test match but i'd rather watch a t20 or an odi. plus u have to have no life at all to sit in front of a tv for a 4 or a 5 match test series, life is too short to waste like that and there are so many quality sports around so it doesn't make sense to me.

anyway most countries are either crap at test cricket and/or don't care about tests so odis and t20s are usually far more evenly contested

 

[Daemon]

2 years ago you said T20 was your preferred format iirc and if I am correct then you would be an example of a fan that started with a limited overs format.

Am I right Daemon? I can find the quote if I try hard enough I think.

Don't think I ever said that. If I did it's a bit surprising, as I can't really recall myself placing T20s above Tests except when I had just started watching cricket (I suppose that means I still fit the example either way).

 

[karan316]

Test cricket is cricket in its purest form, nothing can ever come close to it. But it depends, some fans are crazy about cricket but they don't like test cricket, in Asia, most people would think that the shorter formats are the real thing, but its rather the media which makes it look like that. Test cricket doesn't get that much attention or coverage, whereas T20s or ODIs are given so much importance that the fans fail to understand the value of test cricket.

ODIs "used to be" competitive and was an important format, but, recently, the new rules have just made it an extended version of T20s. Now every Tom, Dick and Muhammad comes lower in the order and thrashes all the bowlers since there's no reverse swing, no spin and 5 fielders are placed inside the circle. ODIs have become a joke and ICC has really spoilt a wonderful format by trying to make it more entertaining.
T20s can be enjoyed for the individual performances, but then there's nothing else to look at. Just enjoy it if you like it.

 

[Adders]

Quality post Karan.

 

[Adders]

plus u have to have no life at all to sit in front of a tv for a 4 or a 5 match test series, life is too short to waste like that and there are so many quality sports around so it doesn't make sense to me.

Sorry Ding Dong, but this is the voice of the sort of "fan" that I'm talking about.

Test cricket with it's duration does bring logistical problems in following it, but if you love the contest (like I and many others do) then there are ways and means and I don't consider I'm wasting my life in doing so in any way, because I love it. I can sit down for 5 days and watch a test match, love every minute of it and not consider I've wasted that time any more than a football or rugby fan thinks he's wasted his couple of hours.

Your comment "obviously happier when the kiwis win a test match but i'd rather watch a t20 or an odi" smacks of the casual observer that doesn't really care that much for the game. You know test cricket is more important so you're happier when you country wins one of them but ****ed if you want to sit down and watch it. Of course you're entitled to that opinion but I can't for the life of me see how that constitutes a cricket fan.

 

[Spikey]

"If it's me and your granny on bongos, it's the Fall."

 

[Adders]

Please explain.

 

[Spikey]

If it's a pair of stumps and a cricket ball, it's a cricket game, and a 'real' cricket fan would probably be able to enjoy or at least be interested in it. There are plenty of posers who attempt to look like a real cricket fan by sledging T20. They're just idiots. And I if I ever hear someone say "Purest form of the game" again

 

[Spikey]

I enjoy going to grade matches and screaming at the players for not playing the purest form of the game

 

[Adders]

Well **** me backwards, possibly the oddest set of posts I've ever seen.....call me a dumb **** if you will, but I don't understand half of what was just said there so wouldn't know how to respond even if I wanted to.

 

[Spikey]

my tip for oddest set of posts is

Test cricket is cricket in its purest form, nothing can ever come close to it. But it depends, some fans are crazy about cricket but they don't like test cricket, in Asia, most people would think that the shorter formats are the real thing, but its rather the media which makes it look like that. Test cricket doesn't get that much attention or coverage, whereas T20s or ODIs are given so much importance that the fans fail to understand the value of test cricket.

ODIs "used to be" competitive and was an important format, but, recently, the new rules have just made it an extended version of T20s. Now every Tom, Dick and Muhammad comes lower in the order and thrashes all the bowlers since there's no reverse swing, no spin and 5 fielders are placed inside the circle. ODIs have become a joke and ICC has really spoilt a wonderful format by trying to make it more entertaining.
T20s can be enjoyed for the individual performances, but then there's nothing else to look at. Just enjoy it if you like it.

Quality post Karan.

 

[Adders]

Perhaps Karan should have proceeded his post with an obscure lyric from an unknown punk band that possibly 5% of CW population can relate too??

Not having ever been to India but having some idea of the countries obsession with LO cricket I appreciated his insight, you might not have agreed with his thoughts or my response but at least both were comprehensible to anyone that read them.