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Things I miss about cricket in the 80s/90s

N

Nas207

School Boy/Girl Captain
This thread has probably been made 100x before, but I've been watching a lot of old footage recently. I think the smaller sweet spot in the old bats makes the game more entertaining, as it rewarded the best shots. Almost no mi****s going for 4/6, which is something I dislike today. The best players really stand out more. I don't think players were much more defensive either, one thing I've noticed is how many good shots went for 2/3 compared to today where its usually a boundary.

No drs is also strangely satisfying. Sure the bad decisions are annoying, but as a viewer it speeds up the action considerably.

Anything else?
 
K

Kirkut

International Regular
Sixes were like rare treats. If a batsman scores 37 and hits one six in that knock, most of us would remember that six and even searched for that shot on YouTube when it was an awesome channel without copyright sharks.
 
K

Kirkut

International Regular
The game was simpler and less commericalized. Most cricketers were middle class and relatable, the wealthy ones had fancy county cricket contracts.
 
Kenneth Viljoen

Kenneth Viljoen

International Debutant
The top players making themselves available for First Class Domestic Cricket and Club Cricket, giving back to the game in its purest form ..Cause when you're a young cricketer and you're sharing a dressing room with a Test Cricketer it works wonders. It rarely happens now , you only see this happening regularly in T20 cricket where most are just there for a quick buck , I feel cricketers from the 80's and 90's were more aware of the traditions of cricket and upholding them , it wasn't all about becoming rich .
 
K

Kirkut

International Regular
Kenneth Viljoen said:
The top players making themselves available for First Class Domestic Cricket and Club Cricket, giving back to the game in its purest form ..Cause when you're a young cricketer and you're sharing a dressing room with a Test Cricketer it works wonders. It rarely happens now , you only see this happening regularly in T20 cricket where most are just there for a quick buck , I feel cricketers from the 80's and 90's were more aware of the traditions of cricket and upholding them , it wasn't all about becoming rich .
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Reminds me of old days when batsmen from Bombay were considered finest breed in India, attacking styles of batting from someone like Kapil Dev and Srikanth were looked down upon by purists. Playing with a straight bat and having a sound defense was considered the pinnacle of batsmanship in India in the 80s.
 
Kenneth Viljoen

Kenneth Viljoen

International Debutant
Kirkut said:
Reminds me of old days when batsmen from Bombay were considered finest breed in India, attacking styles of batting from someone like Kapil Dev and Srikanth were looked down upon by purists. Playing with a straight and having a sound defense was considered the pinnacle of batsmanship in India in the 80s.
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In the 80's and 90's in South Africa, there was immense pride in playing for the Provinces ...Natal , Transvaal , Boland , Western Province, Eastern Province ...Nowadays I hardly see the international players turning up for domestic cricket ..
The mantra back then in SA Domestic Cricket ...Make yourself as useful as possible to your side , you don't have to be the most skillful but you must be tough...It was no suprise we had allrounders falling off trees during this period .
 
honestbharani

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
I think the bit about the bigger bats, reverse swing as well as spin in ODIs etc. are all good points. At the same time, I also think we tend to romanticize the stuff we watched as kids when it comes to sports. I enjoy the fact that you can bowl proper bouncers in ODIs now, instead of the no-ball when it bounces over the shoulder crap in the 90s. The two catchers compulsory and the whole 15-40 overs of ODIs when so very little ever happened are stuff I am happy we dont have to the same extent now.

I still remember that period in the early 90s when Courier, Sampras, Edberg, Becker all seemed to take turns to being #1 and awaiting with bated breath for the Friday(??) newspaper which was the only time I could see the ATP Top 10 for that week.

EDIT - Just realized the line I added regarding the tennis thing got deleted when I hit post. lol. Just meant to make the point that it was far more exciting for that small period seeing who was #1 at the end of each week than I have felt watching the Big 4 play in the 2010+ period. I suppose qualitatively speaking, the current Fab 4 of Tennis are all > that group (except Murray maybe) but I still have fonder recollections of that period in the 90s.
 
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