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It’s not summer, but cricket is at the forefront of Australia’s sporting consciousness.
Australia are the Test world champions after defeating India overnight.
The Ashes are just around the corner.
But as most Australians know, these series are mere windows compared to the bitter rivalry that dominates backyards around the country every summer.
Backyard cricket takes center stage Bluey, the latest episode of Cricket you can watch now on iView.
In an episode that may just go over the heads of the millions of Americans who stream the show stateside, but is likely to receive a rapturous reception in the UK, the show builds on the success of The Decider in its latest Aussie sports crossover to show that the sport is far away. more important than runs, runs, goals or points.
But as always with Bluey, the show has dug down to the core of the sport and its allegory for life and all its challenges.
Bluey doesn’t seem too keen on playing cricket at the start of the episode.
“Cricket is all about hitting the ball on the grass,” Bluey says, feeding a juicy half-sentence off the cover for Bandit to start the whole episode.
“There’s more to cricket than that, son,” he replies knowingly.
Practice makes perfect
The episode focuses on one of Bluey’s friends, Rusty, who is said to “love cricket”.
He shows his love of this game by playing at every possible opportunity: with his brothers in their backyard, with his brothers’ friends with a “real cricket ball” in the park, and when they are not available, by knocking a tennis ball against the wall by himself.
He even sleeps with a cricket bat next to his bed.
He’s basically a cartoon, Kelpie version of a young Marnus Labuschagne.
As is often the case with Bluey episodes, almost every scene evokes memories we can all relate to.
Uncle Stripe nodding his older brother Bandit (Bluey’s dad) over his head for a backyard six and out, to Bingo swinging his bat and knocking over the stumps, the whole episode was a snapshot of the quintessential Australian backyard cricket experience.
Even to the point where adults are so desperate for a child not to show them, they’re probably trying a little too hard and taking things a little too seriously.
As the three adults, Lucky’s father Pat, Uncle Stripe, and Bandit come together to come up with a plan to get Rusty out, another backyard affair talks about the uniqueness of each backyard and what happens when a shot goes wrong.
In Rusty’s case, the problem is the kitchen window, where he punches his angry mother in the face while she’s washing the dishes.
“It was a good motivation to work on his square cut,” Bandit says in the interview.
This follows the great tradition of Australian batsmen using their backyard environment to hone their skills, like Don Bradman and his water tank and the leg-side open spaces of the Chappell flat.
To hone his skills, Rusty uses a setup similar to Labuschagne, and Rusty perfects his cut until he can hit a can off the side of his house.
In the stoppages, the adults scheme again, this time trying to use a crack in the court to deflect the ball and feed this young riser.
Of course, Rusty has an answer for that as well, having spent hours practicing on the incredibly rough surface under a tree at his mate Jack’s house.
Love of the game, his father and little sister
It seems that Rusty’s only weakness is against pace, revealed by one of his older brother’s mates, Tiny, who bowls “really fast” and against whom Rusty “was never brave enough to bat”.
“You can hit if you want, but no one needs to be easy,” says his older brother as he fastens his pads.
Needless to say, they didn’t, and Rusty struggled until he got a letter from his father, who we know in the previous episode is in the military and in this episode overseas.
“This Tiny sounds like she’s got some momentum,” reads the letter.
“I wish I could be there to bowl you, but I can’t mate right now.
“But look, when you grow up, you face tougher things than a cricket ball and you have two choices: back off and get out or step up and play a pull shot.
“Just keep your eyes on the ball and keep an eye on your little sister for me.”
Needless to say, Rusty overcomes this fear as well, hooking Tiny in one game and then hammering Lucky’s Dad over square leg for a six in another.
It is during this episode that we see what else drives Rusty, a beach cricket scene where his entire family, including his father, play together and bond over their shared love of the game.
And then, when the tear ducts are adequately moistened, another tear jerker.
Pat encourages Rusty to play one more ball, and we’re told he’ll play another 50: “He just loved cricket,” was the Bandit’s speech.
The adults were still fixated on “winning” by getting Rusty out, but Rusty had other ideas.
“Come on Pat, this is dignity,” Pat says to herself as Bandit and Stripe stand behind her, rubbing her shoulders before unleashing their fastest balls, but it doesn’t matter.
“Rusty could have crushed it by next week if he wanted to,” Bandit says.
Instead, Rusty did as his father told him, clipping the ball into the air for a catch for his little sister, who is delighted to get her big brother out because he encourages her, like a good big brother, that he is an incredibly valuable decision to the match. which receives applause from suitably disciplined adults.
As Rusty walks off, the backdrop changes from Wittonga Park to The Gabba as Rusty punches the Aussie batter on his way out to mid on, mirroring the dreams of every Aussie who has ever held a bat on a day. bag-like green.
Another seven minutes of life lessons from the Heeler family are complete, and Bandit delivers his final response to Bluey.
“That’s what cricket is all about, son.”
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Sources 2/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-12/bluey-cricket-episode-encapsulates-the-meaning-of-the-game/102467554 The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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