Clutch, pressure, choke: discussing the language of cricketing discourse

81 All Out - A Cricket Podcast

In the latest episode we discuss popular terms used to describe a cricketing contest - and why these are often lazy alternatives with no standard definition.

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Talking Points:

• The category error in sports - when stories are used to describe contests
• The narrative around 'big moments' and how some phases are assumed to 'decide' contests
• The rampant discourse around 'pressure situations'
• The belief that some players are superior at the finish than at the start
• Jordan and Robert Horry - and the spread of the clutch narrative
• Australia v South Africa, Edgbaston, 1999: a narrative gold
• The future of cricket discourse - and ways to describe the entire contest

Participants:

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee); Kartikeya Date (@cricketingview); Mahesh Sethuraman (@cornerd); Ashoka (@ABVan)

Related:

• The episode that really matters - 81allout podcast with Sidharth Monga
• What's the story, Morning Glory - 81allout podcast with Karthik Krishnaswamy
• What we talk about when we talk about cricket - 81allout podcast with Daniel Norcross
• Anatomy of a classic - Virender Sehwag on his 155 in Chennai - Interview by Chandrahas Choudhury and Nishant Arora - ESPNcricinfo
• Bias Case - Steve Tignor - Tennis World
• James Anderson and reverse-swing - Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara discuss - YouTube
• Against narratives - Kartikeya Date - Cricketingview
• Why there is no such thing as a finisher in ODI cricket - Kartikeya Date - ESPNcricinfo
• Roger Federer opens up - Interview by David Remnick - New Yorker
• Paddy Upton's interview of Allan Donald - Apple podcasts
• 'I wanted to be there at the end. That was my drug' - Lance Klusener interview - The Cricket Monthly
• Rudi Webster - Think Like a Champion - Amazon.com