Cricket (Bluey)

"Cricket" is the 47th episode of the third series of the Australian animated television program Bluey, and the 151st episode overall. It first aired on ABC Kids in Australia on 11 June 2023. In the episode, Bluey's father, Bandit narrates a story that happened to one of Bluey's friends, Rusty, in which he tries his best to become a successful Cricket player who spends his time trying to perfect his techniques.

"Cricket"
Bluey episode
Title card
Episode no.	Series 3 Episode 47
Directed by	Richard Jeffery Joe Brumm[1]
Written by	Joe Brumm[1]
Original air date	11 June 2023 (2023-06-11)[2]
Running time	7 minutes
Episode chronology
List of episodes

The episode was animated by Brisbane's Ludo Studio and was directed by Richard Jeffery and co-directed and written by series creator Joe Brumm. Upon release, audiences gave the episode a mostly positive response and the episode, became widely regarded as one of the best episodes of Bluey.

Plot

Bandit recounts a cricket match involving himself, Stripe, and Pat, as they try to get Rusty out during a game at an unknown child's birthday party. As present-day cricket unfolds in the park, Bluey bowls to Bingo, who accidentally knocks over the stumps, getting herself out. Stripe takes the bat next and smashes Bandit's delivery for a six and out, prompting Pat to ask who is left to bat. Bluey mentions Rusty, who is found teaching fielding to his younger sister, Dusty. Though Bluey finds cricket boring and wants to switch to playing tiggy, Bandit insists on continuing, saying they will stop once Rusty is out, unaware of just how difficult that challenge will be.

Rusty steps up and immediately proves his skill, confidently hitting Bandit's deliveries despite the other fathers' attempts to outwit him. Flashbacks reveal Rusty's dedication: he practices alone obsessively, trains his square cut with incredible precision, and even teaches himself to hit moving targets. In the park, he reads Bandit's spin and delivers clean shots, leaving Snickers struggling to return the ball. The dads hatch a plan to exploit Rusty's weaknesses, but his home training, especially his mastery of the square cut thanks to repeated backyard mishaps, causing their strategy to fail, as he places the ball perfectly between fielders.

Stripe tries spin next, targeting a crack on the pitch, but Bandit doubts the tactic. A flashback shows Rusty playing on Jack's rough yard, getting used to uneven pitches. Thanks to that experience, he comfortably hits Stripe's unpredictable delivery. Bandit notes that every batter has a weakness, and for Rusty, it is facing fast bowlers, because Rusty's early struggles were with his older brother Digger's friends, particularly a fearsome bowler named Tiny. Initially overwhelmed and even hurt by Tiny's deliveries, Rusty slowly builds courage. A letter from his deployed dad encourages him to step up rather than back down, inspiring Rusty to finally stand his ground and hit a pace ball for four.

Back at the park, Pat delivers a fast bowl, which Rusty dispatches with a pull shot. As lunch is called, Pat insists on one more try. Bandit narrates that Rusty would happily play all day, simply for the love of the game. The real reason Rusty loves cricket is revealed in a flashback to a game of cricket that his family played on the beach, including his father. In the final delivery, Rusty, who could easily smash the ball, instead chooses to give his sister a chance, gently lobbing the ball for her to catch. Bandit tells Bluey that this gesture, choosing team over ego, is what cricket is truly about. Rusty then imagines standing right next to himself, now grown up and participating for the Australian national cricket team at the Gabba, and young Rusty fist-bumps his adult self.

Production

"Cricket" entered production in November 2020 after Ludo Studio greenlit a third series in October 2020 due to the success of the second series.^[3]

Release

"Cricket" originally aired on ABC Kids in Australia as the 47th episode for the third part of the third series, debuting to an audience of around 563,000 viewers, coinciding with the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.^[2][4] Additionally, in certain regions, Disney+ added "Cricket" to its platform on 12 January 2024 alongside much of series 3.^[5] The episode was later included on the DVD release for series 3 that released in the United States on 28 May 2024.^[6]

Reception

"Cricket" has garnered general acclaim, with the episode receiving a mostly positive response from audiences. Nick Miller and Caitlin Cassidy of The Guardian have explained that audiences consider the episode one of Bluey's best due to its heartfelt nature and its compelling story of how a cricketer growing up trains for the game.^[7] The episode has also been praised by sportswriters for explaining the rules of cricket well to children and to people who are unfamiliar with the sport.^[8][9] Mark Douglas, who works as a Northern Football Correspondent for The i Paper, praised "Cricket", calling it the "best sports drama on TV," stating that he thinks that the episode "works because you know instinctively the people who wrote it love cricket" and that the "little touches [of 'Cricket'] are what makes it: it doesn't speak down to the children watching it or patronise them. The overarching message is simple: this is cricket, this is why we love it and when you get to know it you're going to love it."^[10]

Fans voted "Cricket" into first place during Blueyfest, an online competition held from 23 October 2023 to 6 November 2023 for fans to vote for their choice for the top 100 Bluey episodes that would air for a marathon on ABC Kids to celebrate the show's five-year anniversary on 19 November.^[11][12]

However, the praise for "Cricket" hasn't been universal since, in January 2024, a pro-Palestinian online poet named Omar Sakr criticized the episode for its implication of military violence in a scene where Rusty's dad is seen being deployed in a military base while drawing connections to the ongoing Gaza war. People were divided in their responses to the poem, with some agreeing with the poet, believing that the episode could normalise war to children, while others disagreed, thinking that the poet was taking a children's show too seriously. Some have exaggerated the poem by saying that Sakr was accusing the episode of "promoting genocide", and Sakr is considering contacting a lawyer to dispel the online misinformation.^[13][14]