Cricketers in tears – over Bluey not the Ashes

Don’t laugh. Rusty the kelpie is a star of the hit children’s series Bluey which already has cricket’s popularity covered in most parts of the world.

For one episode only – the just released “Cricket’’ – Bluey will take the sport with her and cricket is already relishing the ride.

Cricket lives with the eternal dream of conquering the United States market.

Bluey’s all over that one. She may be just six years old yet she was the most streamed series in America in April with a staggering 737 million minutes … that’s longer than Steve Smith has batted on English soil.

On Sunday night in Australia a Bluey episode (563,000) outrated Australia winning the World Test championship (524,000) against India in England.

The Brisbane-made series has become a global hit and in its latest seven minute episode, in it’s sumptuously simple way, the glory of cricket is spotlighted through simple virtues.

Rusty, the star of this episode, has an obsession with the game to rival “cricket nuffies’’ Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith.

He loves the game so much he plays it as much as he can, with his brothers in the backyard, by knocking a tennis ball against a wall, and “with a real cricket ball’’ which is accompanied by the life lesson that in life you should confront your challenges and not back away from tough deliveries.

Cricket Australia spends millions of dollars shaping the messages about the spirit and soul of the game for children yet the sight of Rusty deliberately hitting a catch to his sister when no-one can get him says as much about the ethos of the game as a social sport as any campaign ever has.

Matthew Hayden will be taken back in time by the segment where Rusty perfects his square cut by hitting a small target area in the family kitchen to ensure there are no broken windows.

Hayden was not quite as bold on his Kingaroy farm – he never played the cut shot growing up as he did not want to break the glass doors which were square of the wicket in the play room in his family home.

The part where Rusty hones his game on a potholed backyard deck will take batting great Doug Walters back to the antbed decks on his family farm which produced the square-turning deliveries that made Walters a masterful player of slow bowling.

The Bluey episode, which ends with Rusty meeting his grown up self walking on to the Gabba, has been received with enormous warmth in the cricket community.

Former Test opener Ed Cowan admits he shed a tear watching it, cricket writer turned television quiz master Brydon “The Shark’’ Coverdale Tweeted: “Sometimes I wonder why I’ll bother watching some premium TV series of 8 or 10 hour-long episodes when in seven minutes Bluey can pack a bigger punch.’’

Test great Ian Healy enjoyed the focus on backyard cricket which was such a part of his country upbringing in Biloela yet has so many modern challenges.

“We think we are busier than we have ever been, backyards are smaller than they were and just going to the park now there can be security issues,’’ Healy told News Corp.

“At a time when the game is trying to get cricket in more schools it’s good to see this episode come out. I love Bluey – just the simple, strong messages. You sit down to watch one episode and end up watching three or four.’’

Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley said on LinkedIn Bluey “reminds us all of what cricket is all about.’’