2013 – 12 Stars Midweek Equation

12 Stars and the mid week equation
by JEROME BEL
The essence of cricket (for cricket players only)

When cricket players are asked about why they play cricket, the answers always vary. They play for fun, they play for the beauty of the game, they play because cricket is the best sport in the world, they play to win, they play to improve their skills, they play to be the best and they play to be an example for youth.  Amongst those answers you will probably find the one that suits you best.

However, from a different perspective, none of those answers really give an answer. The question is: Why do you play cricket? Not how you should play cricket. Or what do you play cricket for.

If you play just for the fun, for your personal improvement, or for the improvement of others, or for the win etc. You are simply considering the end result not your purpose, your cause or belief*. One could ask: is cricket always fun, do you really improve year after year or do you win every time? Not so.

Nobody plays cricket for what it displays but for what it is. And when we ask players about cricket, we invariably get the

If the French nobles had been capable of playing cricket with their peasants, their chateaux would never have been burnt. (In reference to the French Revolution)

G. M. Trevelyan English historian

same sentences punctuated by the same words: passion, beauty, binding, leadership, tradition, team, different way of thinking, philosophy of life. Some people often smile when they say that it is their “religion”.

To a certain extent yes, it is a gathering of people thinking alike, a pathway, a religion, a philosophy of life. We play cricket because we believe it is the right thing to do. This is why we do it, this is why we want cricket to grow and this is why we want to be part of it and become leaders in our sport. We want to grow as a club because we want cricket to grow as a whole. Our concept of cricket is not just a philosophy of life it is our philosophy of life.

We love cricket because we love the idea that it will make us grow as a man. Cricket questions what kind of man you want to be. This is precisely why cricket discussions will invariably unleash passions just like political, religious or philosophical discussions will invariably end up in heated arguments. These arguments

originate from the fact that most of us have never really asked ourselves why they play cricket and that the misunderstandings between cricket lovers come from the incomprehension between those who are talking about what they play cricket for, those who explain how they play cricket and those who are questioning why they play the game.

Having the honor of captaining most of Bob Parker or mid-week games this season, I was given the wonderful task of having the 12Stars tribe play the most interesting competition in Belgium. I see some of you smiling and, in a way I understand that some of you may have not answered the question as to why they play cricket.

The Bob Parker Cup in Belgium is probably the closest to what the essence of cricket is all about. We will play hard, we will play to win and we will play fair but we won’t play for the result only. We will play to share a moment together on and off the field, to discuss, to re-do the world. We will play to be part of the cricket tribe, to be part of humanity. And it is during those special moments that we are cricket!