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How much did England’s World Cup win raise cricket’s profile? | I Don’t Like Cricket, I Hate It

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England win the World Cup (via ICC video)

I Don’t Like Cricket, I Hate It is a semi-regular feature where we ask a fella called Prince Prefab about cricket – even though he hates cricket. We are in bold. Prince Prefab is not.

One of the aims of this World Cup, from an England perspective, was to remind people who aren’t cricket fans that cricket exists. You, Prince Prefab, are our barometer of this kind of thing. That’s literally the point of this feature. So… did you notice the cricket? (And we already know that you did because you texted us about the final and you had opinions about different elements of it and everything.)

I did but I honestly didn’t know it was a proper old-fashioned prestige event. I thought it was some new modern one day thing. I thought old-fashioned cricket had to go on for days otherwise it didn’t count. 

Well the tournament started in May, so maybe it earns its credentials that way. When did you notice it?

When England started doing badly. Did we lose twice? I heard a load of grumbling on the radio and realised it was going on.

They lost two on the bounce. Absolute masterstroke. Raise the profile of the game by threatening to dash hopes the same as they’ve always done in the past.

How can you lose two and win the World Cup? Seems shady.

They actually lost three in total. Cricket!

Two questions: (a) Did you learn the names of any cricketers from other countries? (b) Did you learn anything about any of the England players?

(a) Not one. But I remember one was odd and I kept seeing it, so I googled it: Colin de Grandhomme. Pretty good name. And when I saw the other New Zealand names I remembered Guptill. Sounds like the name of a fish.

(b) Not really. I know the fella who bowled the Super Over was young and new. I was worried for him in the first few balls, happy for him by the end.

I know that when they have to really whack it they can do and I’m confused why they don’t do that all the time instead of playing a few tame shots and then getting out.

We like that of all the superstars to have played in the World Cup, the most memorable player for many people will be Colin de Grandhomme.

Final question: What did you tell us about whether you’d watch more cricket after viewing that insanely dramatic final?

I’ve watched one cricket match in my life, it was the best cricket match of all time, what’s the point in watching another one?

Similar deliveries:

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22 comments

  2. But Prince Prefab did in fact watch the game? That’s strikes me as a success for ‘cricket’ in itself!

    1. We’d say so. Makes a change from him asking us, “When does it ever end?”

      (For what it’s worth, this is a reference to the relentless schedule rather than any individual match.)

    1. Mmmm, quite. I watched quite a bit of today’s play and kinda wished I hadn’t.

      I feel a bit guilty about all this, as well. A couple of years back, my daughter was just about young enough to be eligible for the ECB “AllStars” thingy that they were doing (still are? dunno, she is now too old for it), so she went and played some (ahem) “cricket” for an hour or so on Friday evenings at the local club. To pique her interest a bit, I showed her some clips of Ellyse Perry. She now “supports Australia”… #dadfail

  6. Two uses of inverted commas around the word ‘cricket’ in today’s comment section.

    Can we implement a rule whereby we only ever refer to The Hundred by using the aforementioned punctuation?

    E.g: The Southern Softies are taking on the Trafford Trousersnakes tomorrow in the ‘cricket’.

  7. Mrs. Smudge, who normally treats my cricket obsession with charming, patient, if bored indulgence, got rather excited during the final. This required me having to answer awkward technical questions whilst breathlessly incoherent, but it was nice to share the moment for a change. The girls were carried away by the excitement but didn’t quite know why.

    My four year old youngest, during the Wimbledon Ladies final the day before asked “is this girl-cricket?”

    In our bit of Berkshire it reached out beyond the normal cricket audience (me) and was better for it, but I’m not sure there have been any permanent converts.

    1. It’s like a solitary shove. You generally need a lot of shoves to get something rolling.

      1. I tell you what is slow. Me only just realising that the title of these ongoing posts is playing on the 10cc lyric.

  8. Extraordinary buzz around Lord’s last night. Presumably word got out that I would be doing the interval interview on BBC Radio London and BBC Essex.

    For those (few) who might have missed the interview, I have embedded it into my write up of the day:

    http://ianlouisharris.com/2019/07/18/tennis-at-queens-followed-by-a-bit-of-london-cricket-trust-charity-media-at-lords-18-july-2019/

    Those of you with a mind for comedy more than charity will enjoy the story of my drive home from Queen’s earlier in the day.

    1. Very inspiring on all counts, Ged. I wish the Trust had been around when I were a lad (and about 400 miles north.)

      Also, stellar work in packing a whole T20’s worth of information into the interview equivalent of 100 balls! It gives one pause.

      1. Thanks for your kind words, Exile.

        Indeed, the interview was originally billed as “just under 15 minutes” and then reduced because of the Eoin Morgan World Cup parade. I think that all added to the buzz and the timeliness of it, while Kevin Hand from the BBC was very apologetic.

        So yes, it might have given you pause, but I didn’t do much pausing myself for 8 minutes. Not too much repetition and very little deviation.

  9. I also want to thank KC for publishing the AB de Villiers in Deptford Park piece on Wednesday.

    I know you don’t normally do requests or “news” stuff, KC, but in this instance you embraced the good cause and I thank you for that. I hope you got lots of hits as a result.

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