Ball players, cricketers, athletes all.

In the process of onboarding for TimeZoneOne’s upcoming project with Levy Restaurants, I got a tour of US Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.  After spending the last few summers watching Chicago baseball, I can feel my mind’s eye, once so faithful to New Zealand’s favorite summer pastime, wandering. I feel it lusting after good ole hot dogs and $7 beers on the third-base line.

But – I am also a member of the mighty Fenders cricket team here in Chicago.

I believe it’s time for a showdown. Long days and nights of summer sporting affairs are opening up before me, and, until recently, I would have said that there was only one game worth courting: cricket.

The question continually raging is this: Are these just phantom yearnings or does baseball really have something over cricket? Which is the greater game?

There are myriad factors to consider, some more superficial than others.

Position Names: Cricket.

At any given time, 11 players from one cricket team are fielding while two batsmen from the other try to score. Should you refer to the position of one of those fielders on the cricket pitch, you might reference any of the following: wicket keeper, gully, fine leg, square leg, third man, slip or silly mid-off. It’s a veritable linguistic circus, hardly to be rivaled by the achingly literal “pitcher� or “catcher.�

Length of game: Baseball.

Baseball games might seem longer than those of other American sports, but they hardly hold a candle to the five days a cricket game often takes to complete. If baseball is a TV movie, cricket is an all-weekend Lifetime marathon. As engrossing and rewarding as it might be to invest that much time in one event, it’s a logistical nightmare to set aside that much time for anything week after week.

Outfits: Cricket.

Cricket uniforms, which invariably consist of plain all-white pants, tops and shoes (with floppy white hat optional), are easy on the eyes. The players manage to actually look classy while playing competitive sports in their ribbed sweater-vests, and that accomplishment outweighs the monotony of their duds.

Catching: Cricket.

The balls in baseball might be going slightly faster when they cross the plate, but baseball fielders have big leather mitts they can use to catch the subsequent hits. Cricket fielders stop those blazing shots sans glove (or any other protection for that matter). However much cricket players might look like sissies prancing around in their white outfits, there’s nothing as gutsy as their taking line drives with the palms of their hands.

There you have it 3 to 1 to the great civilizing game of cricket!

Hamish the Blogizadpha