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Legendary actor Russell Crowe passionately explained cricket to Joe Rogan, calling Tests a “gentleman’s war”, saying once you get it, “it’s the only way to watch cricket.”
Joe Rogan couldn’t believe the explanation of cricket from Russel Crowe.
(PC: YouTube/Screengrab)
In a wild crossover for a cricket fan, legendary actor and director Russel Crowe has recently been recorded explaining the sport to American podcaster Joe Rogan on his immensely popular The Joe Rogan Experience. In it, Crowe detailed the different formats in cricket, before going deep into a passionate explanation of Tests, how it ‘ebbs and flows’, and how once you understand it, ‘it’s the only way you want to watch cricket’.
Crowe, who is a cousin of the legendary former New Zealand cricketers Martin and Jeffrey Crowe, revealed that he grew up in a ‘cricket family’ watching all five days of Test cricket from the stadium. He even said that one of his pathways was to be a cricketer himself, but he chose something different because he didn’t think he could stand out with Martin and Jeffrey being as brilliant as they were.
The conversation in the podcast began with a talk about American sports. Crowe, who was born in New Zealand but spent most of his life in Australia, told Rogan that, unlike Americans, who focus on domestic sports, Aussies see representing their country in games like rugby or cricket as the ultimate goal.
Rogan laughed, saying, “We never think about other sports. We mock them. We think about, like, what are you doing playing cricket?”
Crowe replied, “And it’s a fascinating game. And anybody who loves baseball generally, I found baseball lovers are all about the minutiae, about the stats and what those stats mean… cricket fans are the same as that. So the fact that the two never seem to meet is odd to me.”
Rogan asked, “Do you guys have home runs in cricket? Like where someone really cracks the ball?” Crowe answered, “It’s called a six. Out of the park, it’s called a six. If you hit the ball over the fence without it bouncing, you get six runs.”
He went on: “See, there’s different forms of the game. You have T20, then you have one day… T20 means that each team gets to bowl 20 overs. An over is six balls… Then you have a one day game… But then you have the test match and this is what I grew up with… The test match is between two countries and it’s played over five days. And the idea is that both teams have to bat and bowl twice and the result will be whatever it is at the end of five days… they have morning tea and then they have another break, they have lunch and then they have afternoon tea… It’s very civilized.”
Crowe added, “My cousin Martin was a great cricket player. He was the captain of New Zealand. My other cousin Jeffrey was also a captain of New Zealand… When one of them, Martin at his peak, he was called by Sports Illustrated, I believe, the Michael Jordan of world cricket.”
He said his cousin used to call Test matches “the gentleman’s war, because you have a defined space, you have X amount of players and you’ve got to stop that little ball… from going between the players and therefore preventing the batsman from scoring runs.”
Crowe described its appeal: “But that five day game, the way that it ebbs and flows, once you’re into it, it’s the only way you want to watch cricket because at one moment your team can be just so far ahead, and then it’ll turn on a dime. And day two, things get really dark for your team. Day three, you got an edge back again. Day four, it’s fantastic, man. And as a kid I used to go and attend every day of a five day. It was crazy.”
Crowe said the patience needed for a five-day Test doesn’t fit modern viewing habits, recalling how cricket once dominated Australian TV. He added that, unlike shorter, fast-paced sports, cricket consumes your whole day.
November 11, 2025, 17:21 IST
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