Cricket Fanatic Charlotte K shares her story about a player who helped her find her love for cricket.
I grew up watching soccer, netball and other types of sport, but cricket was very foreign to me. I’d never heard of it or seen it played before.
The first time I saw cricket was on television towards the end of 2008. My sister and I were visiting our cousin and he was watching this peculiar game. I asked him what he was watching and he told me, “cricket”.
To be honest I was not interested. I watched it for a little bit and then zoned out. I never saw, heard about or bumped into the sport again until late 2012.
This particular day I was scrolling through the channels to see if there was something interesting for me to watch and there was nothing.
I was bored and decided that cricket would do for the time being. I was not sure if I was going to enjoy it because I had no clue what was going on but I gave it a chance.
Australia was playing against South Africa. While I was watching I realized that some batsmen were able to play for longer than others. I was surprised to see that people had the stamina to run around like that for the whole day. I never thought a sport could ever take that long.
I was amazed by the 50 and 100 runs I saw players scoring. I could never imagine someone doubling the 100 and scoring 200, let alone 250 runs. Even a novice like me knew that would be unbelievable.
There was one particular batsman that kept batting, and batting, and batting. I was astonished and I remember saying to myself, “Wow, this guy is a beast, he is amazing. Who is this guy?”
His name was Michael Clarke.
Clarke’s unbeaten 259 really blew my mind.
He was mesmerizing.
I did not finish watching this match because I thought the match was over when Australia declared. L.O.L.
Clarke’s innings filled a special place in my heart and I promised myself if I were to ever see cricket played again, I would watch a full game. I wanted to experience the same feeling I felt when I was watching him play.
I wished that I could watch him play again but as someone who had just discovered the sport, I did not have a schedule for all the matches and it did not even occur to me that I should search and find out. I always stumbled upon it by chance and then I’d tune in.
By the time my eyes opened up and I started to understand the sport, Michael retired and I missed the opportunity to watch him play again. I was heartbroken but I cherished that moment when he drew me to cricket.
I doubt that I would’ve been a cricket fan if in hadn’t witnessed that Clarke innings. It certainly was one of the best innings I’ve ever seen.
Thank you, Michael.
Photo: ICC/Twitter
