Robert makes an important point about cricket I think. Cricket is a classic
case of a sport whose image (snobby, upper class, exclusive) hides a much
more complex reality. While certainly not denying that the MCC-factor is
still alive and well in many parts of the game, thankfully its actual
geographies are much more complex. A few points.

*My own experiences of playing cricket in the Birmingham and Wolverhampton
leagues have taught me that the constructed images of cricket (Lords as the
home of cricket, the village green cricket match as quintessentially
English) have very little to do with the experience of the game for the
majority of its participants. Cricket in much of Birmingham and the Black
country was a very working class experience. The popular cultures of
cricket in these regions drew more on the working class, industrial
histories (OK themselves problematic) and experiences of the area than it
did on anything sent down from Lords. Many clubs for example were attached
to factories. The meanings of these clubs during the deindustrialisation of
the region was interesting. Similarly the sport in these areas is very
multi-ethnic. Again, I wouldn't deny that clubs in Birmingham and the Black
Country don't exert subtle, and occassionally very unsubtle, forms of
racism, but the cricket field has been, in my experience, at least a
relatviely democractic space. I now play for Cheltenham cricket club and
find the game here to be very different to that of Birmingham and the Black
Country. Its a very basic point but I think that cricket, as all sports do,
has local geographies, a product of the mediation of the game through its
local geographical contexts. A recent radio 4 series has looked at the very
different meanings of the game in the former colonies.

*There is a rich tradition of cricket writing from the left. Robert
mentioned James and Marqusee. There was also extensive coverage of cricket
in the Morning Star for much of the early and mid-twentieth century. A
recent collection 'Nothing Sacred: The New Cricket Culture' (full reference
to follow) explores the game and its history from a series of left of centre
perspectives.

I don't want to appear to romantise cricket as I recognise many of its bad
points. For example:

*CLR James' classic study 'Beyond a Boundary' is hardly read as a peice of
cricket literature by cricketers and cricket lovers. They tend to prefer
idyllic rubbish about the joys of village cricket. It's been my experience
that James' book is most widely aprreciated by cricket-hating sociologists
as a classic peice of Marxist writing. The canon of cricket writing appears
to be actively cleansed of any political associations by many of those
within the game.

*Has anyone recognised the orientalism of much cricket commentary. Sri
Lankan, Indian and Pakistani spinners are always described as 'wizards' or
'magicians', Pakistani cricketers as either 'aristocrats' or
'street-fighters' (honest - I saw this in a Guardian article a few years
ago), Australians as battlers or beach bums, West Indians as laid-back,
carefree. I seem to remember someone was doing a PhD on this a few years
back. Any info?

*There is a similar orientalism around many of the recent scandals in the
game. Match fixing it was argued stemmed from 'shady' Malaysian
businessmen. Also Pakistani fast bowlers ability to produce the previously
never seen phenonmenon of 'reverse swing' at high speed was attributed (and
still is) to their illegally tampering with the ball, although no firm
evidence was ever forthcoming, rather than the fact that they are
considerably better bowlers than any in the English team. This is despite
the only person been seen illegally tampering with the ball on TV was the
England captain in 1993. Little good it did as England lost another Ashes
series very heaviliy.

Just a few random thoughts. I've had time to compose these as my last three
games have been rained off.

Tim Hall
Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education.
 ----------
From: Robert Polson
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: 07 June 1999 11:25

Everyone

Whilst not pertaining specifically to geography Roger Hutchison did an
interesting critique of the London Boat Race in a recent "West Highland Free
Press". He made the point that the original boat race (I am not sure if it
still is run) was for the "common" river users, whilst the media boat race
is a class ridden institution.

Also Mike Marqusee in "Anyone but England: cricket and the national malaise"
(Verso 1994) and the late C L R James in his literary and sporting
publications, for example: "Beyond a boundary" (Serpent's Tail 1994), point
out how closely sport and trends in society are linked.

James in his Marxist analysis of cricket led me into an interest in a game I
still see as elitist and snobby, yet brought home to me how cricket "unites"
widely separate groups sharing some of a common culture.

Rob

Rob Polson
Assistant Information Officer
Highland Health Sciences Library
University of Stirling
Highland Campus
Old Perth Road
INVERNESS
IV2 3FG
Scotland
UK
Phone: 01463-705269
e-mail: [log in to unmask]


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%