Would this be a reference to that exotic game called cricket?[\green]

Aah, yes. The identifying mark of Americans, an inability to grasp the wonder that is cricket. Apart from Meat Loaf and John Paul Getty Junior, I can't think of any Americans I've heard of or had contact with who can appreciate the glory of cricket. "Baseball on valium" was one description I read somewhere. Tragic! The real tragedy is the imagery lost to Americans through the alienation from cricket, "playing with a straight bat" and, of course, "it's just not cricket" spring to mind, to say nothing of the fact that cricket is the only game in which one can bowl a maiden over on live television.