Cricket Makes NPR

With three Asian teams making the World Cup semifinals, there was a certain danger that much of the cricket world — small as it may be — would have shut out the tournament. (I’m told, in Australia, that that’s largely the case now, with the news cycle already moving on to the transition to the Clarke regime.) Happily enough, American listeners received their own introduction to the World Cup stakes from NPR, National Public Radio.

This can be a bittersweet moment for any die-hard cricket fan. For one thing, American outlets tend to report on cricket in the same bemused tone, no matter how many times they have acknowledged the game in the past. What, do you people actually follow this incomprehensible sport? They actually have passionate feelings about it, one way or the other? How different! (An example of this comes from NPR.com, the radio network’s website. Mark Memmott wrote a post about cricket that repeatedly emphasizes the irony that he does not know what he’s writing about. Hey, Mark, you’re not really that funny, OK?)

But Mukul Kesavan landed on ‘Morning Edition,’ and ‘All Things Considered’ did a fairly good job too of describing just how passionate people were about the game. Listen to both when you get the chance.

 

Advertisement