England Cricket Season

Only a couple more days to wait now until the first Test Match of the summer, England vs. New Zealand, at Lords. I get a real buzz of excitement at about this time each year. I still have not got used to Test Matches starting in May and, as I mentioned at the end of last seasion (The anti-climax of one-day internationals), I think it's all the wrong way round now. Still, with the massive growth of Twenty20, the days of the one-day internationals may be limited. Jonathan Agnew thinks so (Exciting Times - but dangerous too). Speaking of Twenty20, it even made it into the Wall Street Journal the other day (Cricket Gets Lively). It is rare to see any mention of cricket in the American media, so it looks like the Twenty20 craze has even caused a few over here to take notice.

As usual, I will be tuning in via the internet. Our inability to pick up Dish TV, which is the only way to get it via TV in the US (How to cope without British TV and Radio: Cricket Supplement Update) means going to Willow TV, who do live streaming of the cricket for those in the US. The quality is usually perfectly OK, and pretty much unbroken, but it's nothing like as good as a TV signal. One annoyance is that they broadcast in 4:3 and not in widescreen. I have written to them about this, but have not got anywhere with them. Still, I'm grateful to be able to watch it at all in a land that knows nothing about cricket. This season, the choice is between $49.99 for just the New Zealand matches, or $149.99 for everything you can think of in 2008, so I've splashed out on the latter, which means that I'll be able to watch overseas tests too, which will be a treat.

Things are better for us during the summer too because we are allowed to listen to Test Match Special; there is no cricket commentary at all for Americans in the winter.