Quotes about cricket (178 quotes, page 2)

“He is an extraordinary man with extraordinary career. It`s been a privilege to play with him. It was emotional for all of us but it`s a great time to celebrate the farewell of one of India`s greatest cricketers.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

By Rahul Dravid.
Kumble Calls it a Day: Quotes... For and By Kumble...

Time

“He is an extremely messy person, the messiest on earth. But he loves to cook and absolutely loves making pasta at home. We never discussed cricket at home and always made sure there was life away from the sport at home. Conversations revolved around kids and made sure there was life beyond the sport. Kumar is a very relaxed, open sort of person. He has never demanded much. (But) He will have to get used to our routine now. He will of course still play some cricket for a year or two.”

Kumar Sangakkara (1977) Sri Lankan cricketer

Kumar's wife, Yehali Sangakkara, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Kumar Sangakkara is Extremely Messy, Would Love to Have Him at Home Now: Yehali Sangakkara" http://sports.ndtv.com/sri-lanka-vs-india-2015/news/247313-kumar-sangakkara-is-extremely-messy-would-love-to-have-him-at-home-now-yehali-sangakkara, August 21, 2015.
About

Love , Life , Home , Sport

“In those days, before it became scientific, cricket was the best game in the world to watch, with its rapid sequence of amusing incidents, each ball a potential crisis!”

George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876–1962) Historian

English Social History (1942), ch. 8.

World , Game

“In spite of recent jazzed-up one-day matches, cricket to be fully appreciated demands leisure, some sunny warm days and an understanding of its finer points.”

J.B. Priestley (1894–1984) English writer

Source: The English (1973).

Understanding

“There are fans of Twenty20 cricket, and we need to ensure that we give them the cricket they want to see. We need to keep Test cricket alive, because there is a section of fans who love and worship Test cricket and have basically helped this game grow, and they are as important as anybody else.”

Rahul Dravid (1973) Indian cricketer

Love , Game , Help

“I remember walking to the cricket ground with the team, sometimes trying to feel, and sometimes trying not to feel, that I was one of them; and the conviction I had, which comes so quickly to a boy, that nothing in the world mattered except that we should win.”

L. P. Hartley book The Go-Between

The Go-Between (1953)

World , Feeling , Boy

“One-day cricket has debased the currency, both of great finishes and of adjectives to describe them.”

Matthew Engel (1951) English writer and editor

The Guardian Book of Cricket (1986)

“Once in a blue moon a captain imposes his influence not just upon his opponents, but on a generation of cricketers, by the sheer force of his personality.”

James Coldham (1924–1987)

F.S. Jackson, A Cricketing Biography (1989)

Personality

“Cricket was not merely a game - a great and noble game. It was the embodiment of everything that was best in the British, it was something above politics, a bridge that crossed the divides separating the races.”

James Coldham (1924–1987)

F.S. Jackson, A Cricketing Biography (1989)

Game

“It is the right time for him to retire, the best time that Kumble would have looked for. He has done a great job for India and is leaving on a high. He has made his debut under me in the state. He has been a dedicated, sincere, honest, disciplined and good thinking and a great champion cricketer and on the basis on these I can say that I have literally seen him grow and establish himself as a icon and a legendary cricketer both on the field and off it.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

By Syed Kirmani.
Kumble Calls it a Day: Quotes... For and By Kumble...

Thinking , Time , Sincerity

“ISIL herded approximately 450−500 women and girls to the citadel of Tal Afar in Ninewa where, two days later, 150 unmarried girls and women, predominantly from the Yezidi and Christian communities, were reportedly transported to Syria, either to be given to ISIL fighters as a reward or to be sold as sex slaves, the report said. So where are the 'war on women' advocates? I know, crickets chirping. The progressive socialist feminist movement would rather not have Obama admit he was wrong than save these women.”

Allen West (politician) (1961) American politician; retired United States Army officer

2010s, Even the UN accuses ISIS of human rights abuses, but the left stays silent (2015)

Women , War , Sex , Girl

“The Australia of her book is not merely a setting for cricket but a place of interest, of fun and of new impressions”

Margaret Hughes (1645–1719) British actress

John Arlott, review of The Long Hop; quoted in Times obituary http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article516103.ece
About

Books

“Disappointed we didn't win it for Sanga. We promised him we would play our best cricket, but we didn't. On behalf of the team, we can't thank Sanga enough for his services over the last 15 years.”

Kumar Sangakkara (1977) Sri Lankan cricketer

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews said that he was disappointed that the team could not gift a farewell win to batting great Kumar Sangakkara, who retired from cricket at the P Sara Oval, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Angelo Mathews Unhappy Sri Lanka Did Not Win it for Kumar Sangakkara" http://sports.ndtv.com/sri-lanka-vs-india-2015/news/247472-angelo-mathews-unhappy-sri-lanka-did-not-win-it-for-kumar-sangakkara, August 24, 2015.
About

Disappointment

“We had a very good side with an experienced batting lineup and strong variety in our bowling but going into the tournament, it was not the most settled time for Sri Lankan cricket, with some disputes going on. But all of this actually brought us closer together as a team; it made us even more determined to do our job for the supporters and the country. In the end, it was an emotional way for myself and Mahela to sign off from our Twenty20 international careers.”

Kumar Sangakkara (1977) Sri Lankan cricketer

Kumar Sangakkara on Mahela as a coaching consultant for England, quoted on The Guardian, "Kumar Sangakkara: England made smart move on mentor Mahela Jayawardene" http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/13/kumar-sangakkara-england-mahela-jayawardene-world-twenty20-sri-lanka, March 13, 2016.

Way , Support , Strong , Time

“My role with England is to help develop their cricketers, and to help with how they should approach different challenges - like playing spin. The pools hadn't been decided when I agreed to do it. England didn't hire me to give information on the Sri Lankan team. They have analysts and coaches to do that. I'm quite disappointed to see those comments from the board, to be fair.”

Mahela Jayawardene (1977) Former Sri Lankan cricketer

Jayawardene on criticism from SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala, contending that his ten-day consulting role with England is largely geared toward player development and not toward providing specific tactical information, quoted on ESPN Cricket Info, "Jayawardene brushes off SLC president's criticism" http://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/story/976925.html, February 27, 2016.
Quote

Disappointment , Help

“We had a very good side with an experienced batting lineup and strong variety in our bowling but going into the tournament, it was not the most settled time for Sri Lankan cricket, with some disputes going on. But all of this actually brought us closer together as a team; it made us even more determined to do our job for the supporters and the country. In the end, it was an emotional way for myself and Mahela to sign off from our Twenty20 international careers.”

Mahela Jayawardene (1977) Former Sri Lankan cricketer

Kumar Sangakkara on Mahela as a coaching consultant for England, quoted on The Guardian, "Kumar Sangakkara: England made smart move on mentor Mahela Jayawardene" http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/mar/13/kumar-sangakkara-england-mahela-jayawardene-world-twenty20-sri-lanka, March 13, 2016.
About

Way , Support , Strong , Time

“Then cricket sing thy song, or answer mine
Thine whispers blame, but mine has naught but praises
It matters not. — Behold the autumn goes,
The Shadow grows,
The moments take hold of eternity;
Even while we stop to wrangle or repine
Our lives are gone
Like thinnest mist,
Like yon escaping colour in the tree: —
Rejoice! rejoice! whilst yet the hours exist
Rejoice or mourn, and let the world swing on
Unmoved by Cricket-song of thee or me.”

Frederick Goddard Tuckerman (1821–1873) American poet

"The Cricket" lines 120–131

World , Autumn , Tree , Singing

“Test cricket is for batsmen, not bowlers. Bowlers are like slaves," Kapil Dev.”

Kapil Dev (1959) Indian cricketer

Quoted in Profile: Kapil Dev, 20 December 2013, Sify.com http://www.sify.com/sports/Profile-Kapil-Dev-imagegallery-2-Cricket-ji3aMUgfjij.html?post_ad=1,

“Have you ever wondered, perhaps, why opinions which the majority of people quite naturally hold are, if anyone dares express them publicly, denounced as 'controversial, 'extremist', 'explosive', 'disgraceful', and overwhelmed with a violence and venom quite unknown to debate on mere political issues? It is because the whole power of the aggressor depends upon preventing people from seeing what is happening and from saying what they see.

The most perfect, and the most dangerous, example of this process is the subject miscalled, and deliberately miscalled, 'race'. The people of this country are told that they must feel neither alarm nor objection to a West Indian, African and Asian population which will rise to several millions being introduced into this country. If they do, they are 'prejudiced', 'racialist'... A current situation, and a future prospect, which only a few years ago would have appeared to everyone not merely intolerable but frankly incredible, has to be represented as if welcomed by all rational and right-thinking people. The public are literally made to say that black is white. Newspapers like the Sunday Times denounce it as 'spouting the fantasies of racial purity' to say that a child born of English parents in Peking is not Chinese but English, or that a child born of Indian parents in Birmingham is not English but Indian. It is even heresy to assert the plain fact that the English are a white nation. Whether those who take part know it or not, this process of brainwashing by repetition of manifest absurdities is a sinister and deadly weapon. In the end, it renders the majority, who are marked down to be the victims of violence or revolution or tyranny, incapable of self-defence by depriving them of their wits and convincing them that what they thought was right is wrong. The process has already gone perilously far, when political parties at a general election dare not discuss a subject which results from and depends on political action and which for millions of electors transcends all others in importance; or when party leaders can be mesmerised into accepting from the enemy the slogans of 'racialist' and 'unChristian' and applying them to lifelong political colleagues...

In the universities, we are told that education and the discipline ought to be determined by the students, and that the representatives of the students ought effectively to manage the institutions. This is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but it is nonsense which it is already obligatory for academics and journalists, politicians and parties, to accept and mouth upon pain of verbal denunciation and physical duress.

We are told that the economic achievement of the Western countries has been at the expense of the rest of the world and has impoverished them, so that what are called the 'developed' countries owe a duty to hand over tax-produced 'aid' to the governments of the undeveloped countries. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but it is nonsense with which the people of the Western countries, clergy and laity, but clergy especially—have been so deluged and saturated that in the end they feel ashamed of what the brains and energy of Western mankind have done, and sink on their knees to apologise for being civilised and ask to be insulted and humiliated.

Then there is the 'civil rights' nonsense. In Ulster we are told that the deliberate destruction by fire and riot of areas of ordinary property is due to the dissatisfaction over allocation of council houses and opportunities for employment. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but that has not prevented the Parliament and government of the United Kingdom from undermining the morale of civil government in Northern Ireland by imputing to it the blame for anarchy and violence.

Most cynically of all, we are told, and told by bishops forsooth, that communist countries are the upholders of human rights and guardians of individual liberty, but that large numbers of people in this country would be outraged by the spectacle of cricket matches being played here against South Africans. It is nonsense—manifest, arrant nonsense; but that did not prevent a British Prime Minister and a British Home Secretary from adopting it as acknowledged fact.”

Enoch Powell (1912–1998) British politician

The "enemy within" speech during the 1970 general election campaign; speech to the Turves Green Girls School, Northfield, Birmingham (13 June 1970), from Still to Decide (Eliot Right Way Books, 1972), pp. 36-37.
1970s

Pain , People , World , Education

“Where glowing embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom,
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the cricket on the hearth.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

Source: Il Penseroso (1631), Line 79

Light

“I would love to do that. They (Kohli and Root) have been playing brilliantly. I love both. Outstanding cricketers and they have been fantastic for a long period of time. Watching these two bat and perform in the way they have been performing, you can learn a lot.”

Kane Williamson (1990) New Zealand cricketer

New Zealand captain and top batsman Kane Williamson, quoted on Indian Express, "England vs New Zealand: There’s plenty to learn from Virat Kohli and Joe Root, says Kane Williamson" http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/england-vs-new-zealand-theres-plenty-to-learn-from-virat-kohli-joe-root-says-kane-williamson/, March 31, 2016.

Love , Way , Learning , Time

“The uniforms are my other memory. In the beginning, they looked odd. In the cricket world, we were used to playing in whites. Back then, the world was changing, television was changing and you needed people to see more colour. So, I think they did a great thing.”

Kapil Dev (1959) Indian cricketer

Beating Pakistan, Kapil Dev's fondest 1992 World Cup memory

People , World , Thinking , Memory

“Like India herself, I am at home in hovels and palaces, Ganapathi, I trundle in bullock-carts and propel myself into space, I read the vedas and quote the laws of cricket. I move to the strains of a morning raga in perfect evening dress.”

Shashi Tharoor book The Great Indian Novel

The Great Indian Novel (1989)

Law , Quotes , Home , Reading

“Cricket is the most senior, widespread and deeply rooted of English games.”

John Arlott (1914–1991) English sports commentator and writer

Quoted in The Guardian Book of Cricket (1986).

Game

“Dhoni has evolved as a leader, not just as a cricketer. In my opinion, if you see his records, he is definitely the best captain India ever had.”

MS Dhoni (1981) Indian cricket player

Wasim Akram https://www.scoopwhoop.com/sports/dhoni-quotes/

“He revolutionised cricket. He turned it from an accomplishment into a science.”

K. S. Ranjitsinhji book The Jubilee Book of Cricket

Of W. G. Grace
The Jubilee Book of Cricket (1897)

Science

“If Sachin is a god of cricket, then VVS is angel we all strive to be.”

V. V. S. Laxman (1974) former Indian cricketer

Murali Kartik on VVS Laxman. http://www.scrolldroll.com/quotes-about-vvs-laxman-that-show-he-is-truly-very-very-special/

God , Angels

“To some people cricket is a circus show upon which they may or may not find it worth while to spend sixpence. To others it is a cult and a philosophy, and these last will neve be understood by the profanum vulgus, nor by the merchant-minded nor by the unphysically intellectual.”

Digby Jephson (1871–1926) English cricketer

Autobiography A Few Overs (1913)

People

“Nothing that the law-makers or the law-breakers or the MCC or the Board of Control or any conferences or county committees or pressmen or captains or players can do to it or have done to it over the years - nothing can affect cricket's basic worth or irresistible attraction.”

Ben Travers (1886–1980) English writer of plays, screenplays, novels, and three memoirs

The Infatuee, included in The Cricketer's Bedside Book (1966)

Law

“A great cricketer must be an artist and express himself in his strokes.”

Margaret Hughes (1645–1719) British actress

All On A Summer's Day (1953).

“As we at all times criticise the Premier for his management of home affairs, call Mr Butler a fool for his Budget, find fault with Beecham's conducting, or Gielgud's performance, can we not, sometimes, say that our cricketers are not quite so brilliant as usual?”

Margaret Hughes (1645–1719) British actress

The Long Hop (1955).

Fools , Home , Time

“Arjuna made us believe in ourselves. He did it for two decades. We owe a lot to him. He helped us become a force in world cricket. He is definitely the most influential cricketer Sri Lanka ever produced.”

Arjuna Ranatunga (1963) Sri Lankan cricketer

Muttiah Muralitharan, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Kumar Sangakkara Not Sri Lanka's Most Influential Cricketer, it's Arjuna Ranatunga: Muralitharan" http://sports.ndtv.com/sri-lanka-vs-india-2015/news/247531-kumar-sangakkara-not-sri-lanka-s-most-influential-cricketer-it-s-arjuna-ranatunga-muralitharan, August 25, 2015.
About

World , Help

“Cricket is an ancient pastime; it ripened sweetly, it has endured noblt.”

Thomas Moult (1893–1974) British writer

Bat and Ball (1935), opening words.

“Ask a great money-maker what he wants to do with his money, — he never knows. He doesn't make it to do anything with it. He gets it only that he may get it. "What will you make of what you have got?" you ask. "Well, I'll get more," he says. Just as at cricket, you get more runs. There's no use in the runs, but to get more of them than other people is the game. So all that great foul city of London there, — rattling, growling, smoking, stinking, — a ghastly heap of fermenting brickwork, pouring out poison at every pore, — you fancy it is a city of work? Not a street of it! It is a great city of play; very nasty play and very hard play, but still play.”

John Ruskin (1819–1900) English writer and art critic

The Crown of Wild Olive, lecture I: Work, sections 23-24 (1866).

Money , People , Game

“If Kumble was born in Australia or England, he would have got much more prominence in world cricket considering his superb record in both forms of the game. Kumble is definitely the best role model for any youngster entering the game.”

Arjuna Ranatunga (1963) Sri Lankan cricketer

Ranatunga on cricketer Anil Kumble, in "Kumble Calls it a Day: Quotes... For and By Kumble..."

World , Game

“He [Arjun Nair] started as a batsman and the bowling took over, now he's picking up the batting again, which is good because it is important he offers something [more] than his bowling. Finger spin in Australia is challenging at the best of times and you just have to give yourself more opportunities to be selected. In this professional age it is important he offers as much as possible to maximise the number of opportunities he gets. Fielding is another aspect, like all young cricketers. Arjun needs to make sure he nails that because you can't afford any deficiencies if you want to break through.”

Greg Chappell (1948) Australian cricketer

Chappel on cricketer Arjun Nair, The Sydney Morning Herald (January 30, 2016), "Arjun Nair is a name to remember, says Cricket Australia's Greg Chappell" http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/arjun-nair-is-a-name-to-remember-says-cricket-australias-greg-chappell-20160129-gmhk9z.html

Age , Time

“We planted our crops in the spring, and they came up, and were looking nicely, and we were cheered with the hopes of having a very abundant harvest. But alas! it very soon appeared as if our crops were going to be swallowed up by a vast horde of crickets, that came down from these mountains-crickets very different to what I used to be acquainted with in the State of New York. They were crickets nearly as large as a man's thumb. They came in immense droves, so that men and women with brush could make no headway against them; but we cried unto the Lord in our afflictions, and the Lord heard us, and sent thousands and tens of thousands of a small white bird. I have not seen any of them lately. Many called them gulls, although they were different from the seagulls that live on the Atlantic coast. And what did they do for us? They went to work, and by thousands and tens of thousands, began to devour them up, and still we thought that even they could not prevail against so large and mighty an army. But we noticed, that when they had apparently filled themselves with these crickets, they would go and vomit them up, and again go to work and fill themselves, and so they continued to do, until the land was cleared of crickets, and our crops were saved. There are those who will say that this was one of the natural courses of events, that there was no miracle in it. Let that be as it may, we esteemed it as a blessing from the hand of God; miracle or no miracle, we believe that God had a hand in it, and it does not matter particularly whether strangers believe or not.”

Orson Pratt (1811–1881) Apostle of the LDS Church

Journal of Discourses 21:276-277 (June 20,1880)
Pratt describes the event in which seagulls disposed of swarms of crickets that were destroying their crops.
Miracle of the seagulls and crickets

Women , Men , God , Hope

“My own lab has two Chinese, a Malaysian, a Canadian, an American, a German, it has had all sorts of people. And it’s actually fun because people from different countries come together, they have cultural exchanges, they learn more about each others’ countries and way of life. Science is a great international mixer, so the idea that it is a sort of cricket match where our team won — that simply is a wrong way of looking at scientific discovery.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (1952) Nobel prize winning American and British structural biologist

Commenting on the adulation he received in India as an Indian.
Venki’ makes light of India link- Winner says not to treat science like cricket; league of misses grows

Life , People , Way , Idea

“Embarrassing cricket tales. When I was about 14, my school team played against a school called Langdon, somewhere or other in the wilds of East London. They batted first and racked up 180-3 off 20 overs. We got 13. My PE teacher called it the most humiliating day of his life. Years later, he got done for sex offences. I wonder what he thinks now.”

Ben Dirs journalist

Cricket England v West Indies, First test, day five as it happened, 2007-05-21, 2007-05-26, BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/england/6675703.stm,

Life , School , Sex , Thinking

“Our cricket was completely uninhibited by tactical thoughts or any other subtleties. We were never coached, all our practice came from playing in the streets of Signal Hill, where we lived, and some of us would get hauled off to jail by the police if we were caught. Playing in the street was an offence for us.”

Basil D'Oliveira (1931–2011) Cricket player of England.

Autobiography "My Early Life" http://basildoliveira.com/about/biographies/basil-doliveira/

“It is very difficult for somebody to get into his shoes. He is a cricketer who never compromised his dignity and always played with determination.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

By Ian Chappell.
Kumble Calls it a Day: Quotes... For and By Kumble...

Shoe

“If one-day cricket was pyjama cricket, then Twenty20 is underwear cricket.”

Navjot Singh Sidhu (1963) Indian cricketer and politician

On Twenty20 cricket, in "If one-dayer is pyjama cricket, Twenty20 is underwear cricket" in Daily News and Analysis (17 July 2006) http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report-if-one-dayer-is-pyjama-cricket-twenty20-is-underwear-cricket-1042298.

“Send them home as merry as crickets.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534), Chapter 29.

Home

“Cricket has more in it than mere efficiency. There is something called the spirit of cricket, which cannot be defined.”

Lionel Tennyson

Sticky Wickets (1950), ASIN: B0000CHN1L

“I think that the Virat Kohli era has dawned over the last year or so. It's been there ever since he took over the Test captaincy and because he is now going to create a completely different niche as far as Indian cricket is concerned. I think this era of India cricket is going to be a highly entertaining era.”

Sunil Gavaskar (1949) Indian cricket player.

Before the match, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar told NDTV that the Kohli era has started, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Virat Kohli Proves His Era Has Begun, After Guiding India Into World T20 Semifinals" http://sports.ndtv.com/icc-world-twenty20-2016/news/256920-virat-kohli-proves-his-era-has-begun-after-guiding-india-into-world-t20-semifinals, March 27, 2016.

Thinking

“At any rate, it would detract sadly from the richness of the game if deduction of character from a player's style was a forbidden pursuit, for undoubtedly the main reason why cricketers are remembered for years, for decades, after the heroes of other sports are forgotten is that they set the impress of character, apart from technical batting or bowling, on the minds of those who watched them, and whether that cricket-character falsely represented the real man is, in the last analysis, unimportant.”

Dudley Carew (1903–1981) English journalist, writer, poet and film critic

To the Wicket (1946)

Game , Sport , Falseness

“I first fell under the spell of cricket, as every other small boy will have done, by batting and bowling on the nearest available space the moment I got home from school.”

Geoffrey Moorhouse (1931–2009) English journalist and author

The Best-Loved Game (1979).

School , Home , Boy

“Nature is what we see,
The Hill, the Afternoon—
Squirrel, Eclipse, the Bumble-bee,
Nay—Nature is Heaven.

Nature is what we hear,
The Bobolink, the Sea—
Thunder, the Cricket—
Nay,—Nature is Harmony.

Nature is what we know
But have no art to say,
So impotent our wisdom is
To Her simplicity.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Source: Collected Poems (1993), p. 268-269. The Single Hound.

Wisdom , Art , Nature , Bee

“Cricket can be a bridge and a glue… Cricket for peace is my mission.”

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1924–1988) 6th President of Pakistan

Quoted in Helen Exley Cricket Quotations (1992)
Source: Dictionary of Quotations, Chambers: Edinburgh, U.K, 2005, p. 937

Peace

“We all want this game to be clean and whoever has done something wrong, we want them to bring before the courts and take certain decisions. As captain of the team I have to mention that the cricketers felt really uncomfortable the last few days because they are the ones who came forward and reported this to ICC [International Cricket Council] and SLC”

Angelo Mathews (1987) Sri Lankan cricketer

Quoted on Stuff.co.nz (January 20, 2016), "Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews defends his players in match-fixing scandal" http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/76058279/sri-lanka-captain-angelo-mathews-defends-his-players-in-matchfixing-scandal

Game , Decision

“Before 1914 it was beauty that counted in cricket - elegance of strokes, stylishness of bowling action, quixotry in captaincy. The gallant gesture was just as important as the mammoth score, the picturesque as the efficient.”

Bill Edrich (1916–1986) Cricket player of England.

Cricket Heritage (1948) http://biblio.co.uk/books/47419262.html

Beauty

“India cricket team realised its number one status, we won the Twenty20 World Cup, The 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy. I am proud to be a part of the core group that laid the foundation.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

India became a sporting nation in the last decade: Kumble

World , Parting

“My fortune in cricket was to play when the first-class game was free and fast-flowing and with a county as concerned to play attractive and sporting cricket as to win.”

Tony Pawson

Runs and Catches: an autobiography (1980), ISBN: 9780571115655.

Game , Sport

“Smut is a target for reconstructed cricketing accidents -- he is the Cricket Saint Sebastian.”

Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director

Fear of Drowning By Numbers

“You doubt where you're going, you doubt the way you shave in the morning and even the way you talk to people. Looking back on my past, I think that when you are out of form I attribute it to how I am in my life. I guess it was a reflection of the way I was playing my cricket, you know, I was inconsistent.”

Lou Vincent (1978) New Zealand cricketer

When asked about his career and self-doubt. Quoted in [Hanging out with Lou Vincent, Michele Hewitson, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/cricket/news/article.cfm?c_id=29&objectid=10434215&pnum=3, The New Zealand Herald, 2008-06-05, 2008-06-05]

Life , People , Way , Thinking

“If the French noblesse had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt.”

George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876–1962) Historian

English Social History (1942), ch. 8.

“We had bunch of young players and every individual performed when team needed the most. Even junior players stood up on couple of occasions and that is a good sign for future of Nepali cricket.”

Paras Khadka (1987) Nepalese Cricket team captain

Cricketers get heroes welcome The Himalayan Times; February 2018 https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/cricketers-get-heroes-welcome/

Future

“The work of an enthusiast who has watched and enjoyed cricket with an eye for detail and for character, for adventure and the human reflection beyond the ropes. It will, I fancy, be read with the same pleasure as it was written.”

Margaret Hughes (1645–1719) British actress

John Arlott, review of All On A Summer's Day; quoted in Times obituary http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article516103.ece
About

Pleasure , Reading

“Cricket is no excuse for ignorance.”

Barry Perowne (1908–1985) British crime writer

Novel, Raffles of the MCC (1979)

“Hall continues: Give cricket a shot in the bails it needs!”

Stuart Hall (1929–2014) sociologist and cultural theorist

pause
BBC Fighting Talk (2005)

“If it wasn't about race, y'know, if it was really about what the Tea Party says their issue is – deficits – who ran up all that debt? Bush! Where was the Tea Party then? The two wars we put on the credit card, the prescription drug program that wasn't paid for, the tax cuts that weren't paid for, where were they then? *crickets!* But as soon as President Nosferatu took office, then, suddenly, debt is intolerable. I think there's just something they don't like about him… I cannot put my finger on what it is… Just some way he's not like them… Skinny! That's probably what it is. He's skinny, and that's why they hate him… Oh, and also that he's a Muslim socialist out to destroy America and wave his African wonder-schlong in your daughter's face.”

Bill Maher (1956) American stand-up comedian

Crazy Stupid Politics (2012)

Hate , War , Way , Thinking

“God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious…”

Regina Spektor (1980) American singer-songwriter and pianist

"Laughing With"
Far (2009)
Context: No one laughs at God when the cops knock on their door
And they say "We've got some bad news, sir."
 No one's laughing at God when there's a famine, fire or flood But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they're 'bout to choke God can be funny
When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious...

Money , God , Way

“Playing for India has been an honour and I want to continue doing that. I don't know anything else to do other than cricket. I want to play as long as I can”

Harbhajan Singh (1980) Indian cricketer

Singh on playing for India, quoted on sports.ndtv, "Harbhajan Singh Says he Urged Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Bat up the Order in Asia Cup Final" http://sports.ndtv.com/asia-cup-2016/news/256271-harbhajan-singh-says-he-urged-mahendra-singh-dhoni-to-bat-up-the-order-in-asia-cup-final, March 8, 2016.

“Sangakkara: It's a great sport to play. It's a very special sport because it's one that's got a certain character to it that is not present in other sports. But there's also an expectation of a cricketer that is to be much more than in any other sport. So it's a great test of character for a young kid, but at the same time, it's a great skilful athletic sport that's a viable profession that gives great opportunities as long as you understand that playing this game to the best of your abilities in the most honest manner possible is what will open those doors for you.”

Kumar Sangakkara (1977) Sri Lankan cricketer

So if you're taking up the sport, take it up seriously. Have fun, enjoy it, otherwise you won't do well, but when you do get those opportunities, ensure that you leave a mark.
"Leadership, at times, is a lonely place: Kumar Sangakkara" http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/78506/leadership-at-times-is-a-lonely-place-kumar-sangakkara-former-sri-lanka-cricket-team-captain (Interview; March 9, 2016)

Game , Understanding , Sport , Time

“He scores goals like runs in cricket.”

Dhyan Chand (1905–1979) Indian field hockey player

Don Bradman commented on Dhyan Chand's legendary skill in scoring goals in [Hem Shanker Ray, Symbols of India, http://books.google.com/books?id=FPJCrUUu4BUC&pg=PT329, Rupa Publications, 978-81-291-2349-7, 329–]

“Cricket is an art, not a bastard or a poor relation, but a full member of the community. (…) Cricket is first and foremost a dramatic spectacle. It belong with the theatre, ballet, opera and dance.”

C. L. R. James book Beyond a Boundary

Source: Beyond a Boundary (1963), p. 196

Communication , Dance , Relation ships , Art

“That James could not accept automatically that these athletes were the greedy spawn of an exploitative system is the positive proof of his own liberation and oppression through sports. He was ennobled and crippled by cricket; he reached beyond his boundary but would always have a blind spot.”

C. L. R. James book Beyond a Boundary

Introduction by Robert Lipsyte (p. XX)
Beyond a Boundary (1963)

Sport

“Rohit Sharma is an absolute star in limited overs cricket. Getting multiple double hundreds is no mean feat in ODI cricket. The game just looks easy when he’s out there batting. I suppose that’s the joy of watching him. He is able to hit the ball wherever he likes and is good against pace and spin. He hits the ball miles when he wants to.”

Rohit Sharma (1987) Indian cricketer

About him

Game , Star , Joy

“Nothing is easy in cricket. Maybe when you watch it on TV, it looks easy. But it is not. You have to use your brain and time the ball.”

Rohit Sharma (1987) Indian cricketer

[No formula to it: Rohit Sharma, https://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/no-formula-to-it-rohit-sharma/article21615720.ece, The Hindu, 13 December 2017]

Time

“And then India; let me tell you my relationship with India. Because of cricket, which is followed with great passion in the subcontinent, I have great friends in India. I’ve always loved going to India. So my first move was to reach out to Modi and I said let’s work our differences, leave our past behind and our main priority should be our people as we have similar problems; poverty and climate change. Highest number of people reside in subcontinent. On zero response from India; we thought we should wait till the Indian elections since BJP is a nationalist party. Meanwhile, a Kashmiri boy radicalized by Indian forces blew himself up on an Indian convoy. Immediately India blamed Pakistan. I told India to give us any proof and we’d act. We had actual proofs of Indian intervention in some terrorist attacks in our Balochistan province. We even caught their spy Kulbhushan Yadav who admitted to crimes. Instead of sharing proofs of any Pakistani’s alleged involvement in Pulwama attack, they tried to bomb us. We retaliated. We captured their pilot; but returned him the next day because we did not want the situation to escalate.”

Imran Khan (1952) Prime Minister of Pakistan

Speech at the United Nations General Assembly, 2019

Waiting , Past , People , Boy

“I think the writing was in the wall. I could feel it was coming. It think he could have played the Nagpur Test but injury might have expedited his decision. Anyways, India is proud of you and I wish you happy retirement but I think although he has retired from International cricket, he has lots to offer in other aspects of the game.”

Anil Kumble (1970) Former Indian cricketer

Bishan Singh Bedi.
Kumble Calls it a Day: Quotes... For and By Kumble...

Game , Thinking , Feeling , Decision

“One such way was to do with her lifelong love of cricket. No one in this country (the US) followed the game, but they did follow baseball, another bat-and-ball sport. So she threw herself into baseball and into the local team, the New York Yankees, reading everything she could on the subject until she could comfortably talk about it.”

Indra Nooyi (1955) Indian-born, naturalized American, business executive

Quoted in "How PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi gave up cricket for baseball".

Sport , Reading , Country , Game

“Lancashire have brought in a player with a great reputation in the format who will add firepower to our top order. He is an exciting player and excellent fielder, just what we need for Twenty20 cricket.”

Lou Vincent (1978) New Zealand cricketer

Mike Watkinson (2008), quoted in [Lancashire sign Lou Vincent, Cricinfo staff, http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/england/content/story/353666.html, Cricinfo, 2008-06-05, 2008-06-05]

“I do not see myself as so cheap (low) that I would judge myself on a trophy. I do not play cricket for a trophy. A trophy is very important at one stage, and I believe Inshallah one day, Bangladesh will win one. It is important because it will boost the young generation coming into cricket. So in that sense you can say Bangladesh need a trophy, but not necessarily right now. And from a personal point of view, if you judge Mashrafe based on a trophy, that is up to you, but I do not see myself as that cheap (low).”

Mashrafe Mortaza (1983) Bangladeshi international cricketer and politician

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/cricket/2018/09/27/proud-mashrafe-doesn-t-want-to-be-judged-by-trophies

Sense , Personality

“Let me shatter some illusions today. We are entertainers. We are not heroes. The heroes are our freedom fighters. We do not sacrifice anything for the cause of the nation. The freedom fighters did. Don't misunderstand me, cricket is not everything. What we try to do is to bring happiness to our nation.”

Mashrafe Mortaza (1983) Bangladeshi international cricketer and politician

https://www.clickittefaq.com/freedom-fighters-are-heroes-not-cricketers-mashrafe/

Happiness , Freedom

“I say, those who cry ‘patriotism, patriotism’ around cricket, if all of them for one day did not drop banana skin on the streets or did not spit on the streets or obeyed traffic rules, the country would have changed. This huge energy was not wasted after cricket and was used to do one’s work honestly even for a day, that would be showing patriotism. I do not understand the definition of patriotism of these people.”

Mashrafe Mortaza (1983) Bangladeshi international cricketer and politician

https://newshour.online/2017/06/20/mashrafe-mortaza-says-dont-understand-patriotism-around-cricket/

Understanding , Country , People , Cry

“I am a cricketer but can I save a life? A doctor can. But no-one claps for the best doctor in the country. Create myths around them. They will save more lives. They are the stars. The labourers are the stars, they build the country. What have we built using cricket? Can we make even a brick using cricket? Does paddy grow on the cricket field? Those who make courtyards using bricks, make things at factories, grow crops in the fields – they are the stars.”

Mashrafe Mortaza (1983) Bangladeshi international cricketer and politician

https://zeenews.india.com/cricket/icc-champions-trophy/doctors-farmers-and-labourers-are-real-stars-of-nation-not-cricketers-philosopher-captain-mashrafe-mortaza-2016815.html

Life , Making love , Star , Country

“I think you need to have bad times to learn about life. If you keep on being successful, you do not learn. If you do mistakes, you learn from them and become a better person. My past has helped me become a better cricketer and human being.”

Sanju Samson (1994) Indian cricketer

Source: Samson after hitting a century on 2017 Indian Premier League about his unsuccessful domestic season. Sanju Samson says bad times taught him a lot https://m.economictimes.com/news/sports/sanju-samson-says-bad-times-taught-him-a-lot/amp_articleshow/58144832.cms

Personality , Learning , Time , Success

Quotes about cricket page 2

Quotes about cricket
page 2