Two Types of Cricket
I'm watching cricket. I love cricket. But I'm not sure what cricket to watch, because cricket's on two channels. On the one hand, there's some very exciting test cricket between England and South Africa, but (sacrilege!) I'm also finding myself flipping over to Australia's T20 Big Bash League on the other channel. I flipping love the BBL. It's the first T20 I've really relished. The IPL, the Ram Slam, the Caribbean Premier League, even our own T20 Blast, I can entirely take or leave - I can find them crass, garish, boring all at once, but I'm completely sold on the BBL. It's become a yearly sporting highlight, a wonderful background to these cold winter mornings. People complain about the modern Australian commentators being too matey, and I have found that in the past, but I love the mateyness of the guys they've got for IPL. I love Gilchrist and Ponting in particular - serious and knowledgeable, funny and good-natured. Fleming is a smoo...