The American humourist Robert Benchley famously suggested that: "England and America should scrap cricket and baseball and come up with a new game that they both can play - like baseball, for example. " Hollywood star Robin Williams likened cricket to baseball on valium. Cricket aficionados are no less contemptuous of baseball, wondering how some teams score only a run or two in nine innings after four hours of play, how it is the only game where 'stealing' is legal, and fielders are such sissies that they need a glove on one hand to catch the ball. There's no meeting ground between fans of the two sibling sports.
So on Thursday, US media outlets struggled to explain the game of cricket to an American audience in the context of the epic India-Pakistan World Cup clash. They gave up quickly, rather than take after the attempt of the Washington Post, which during the 1999 World Cup described spin bowlers as the "cricket equivalent of junk-ballers.
Merey jaisi aankhon walay jab Sahil per aatay hain
lehrain shor machati hain, lo aaj samandar doob gaya
