Cricket

The Independent

Like cricket itself, its annual chronicle has adapted to survive on a tricky modern wicket

Cricket has always claimed to be more than just a game. Neville Cardus wrote that, “if everything else in this nation of ours were lost but cricket, her constitution and the Laws of England of Lord Halsbury, it would be possible to reconstruct from the theory and practice of cricket all the eternal Englishness which has gone to the establishment of that Constitution and the laws aforesaid.” And CLR James was convinced that “cricket is first and foremost a dramatic spectacle. It belongs with the theatre, ballet, opera and dance”.

Those who care little for the sport might dismiss such claims as dotty. But the game does attract some remarkable devotees. Cardus, then the Manchester Guardian’s music critic, doubled up to become its cricket correspondent. James, a West Indian radical who 50 years ago published his classic Beyond a Boundary, was a Trotskyite deported from the US. And the great mathematician GH Hardy, a confirmed atheist, consoled himself as he lay dying by getting his sister to read out the scores of an Australia-India series.

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OUTLOOK India

Indian cricket at 17 was like a teenager who had ‘come out’, free from her governess, and could roam the world at last. By 1949, India in world cricket was no longer India vs England.

In its first 15 years as a Test-playing country (1932-47), India played just 10 Tests, all against England. Barring some unofficial tours, cricket largely comprised matches between Hindus, Muslims, Parsees and the Rest, which had done much to nurture the game here. Just before independence, these matches, seen as a manifestation of communalism in sport and condemned by Gandhi, were stopped. However, by 1949, India had taken steps to become like other Test-playing countries with regular official home and away tours. In 13 months between January 1948 and February 1949, India doubled the number of Tests it had played in the past sixteen years.

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BBC Asian Network

Mark Ramprakash explores the impact Twenty20 has had on cricket ten years since it was introduced and discovers what was first seen as a gimmick by some is now funding the county game – for some clubs like Yorkshire and Leicestershire t20 matches provides additional money and can account for 70 per cent of their domestic income. Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon says initially they didn’t quite take it seriously -treating it as a bit of fun but now it’s this form of cricket that’s financially lucrative . Leicestershire’s County Cricket Club’s chief executive Mike Siddall is clear too about the clubs future – the revenue they now generate from one t20 match funds not just one but two of the 4day county championship matches. But is there a danger that Twenty20 is getting to too dominant ? And what about on a international level , the Indian Premier League – the IPL the largest and financially the most lucrative of the Twenty20 tournaments has already changed the landscape of cricket. Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest batsmen the world has seen says in India it is becoming harder to attract large crowds to Test cricket as they prefer to go the IPL tournament.

So if a country like India is struggling to pull in a crowd for Test cricket, should this be a warning to England? Added to this some international players now prefer to play in the IPL over Test cricket because of the money available it’s an issue that’s only going to become further ignited. So what of the future Twenty20 or can Test cricket battle on?

Presenter Mark Ramprakash

Producer Perminder Khatkar and Nikesh Rughani.

Click here to listen to the programme (Note: section with Mihir starts at 17.28)

Availability:

over a year left to listen

Duration:

30 minutes

First broadcast:

Monday 17 September 2012

Olympics will devalue cricket; its masters have no use for the games

Outlook India

Cricket and the Olympics present a sporting relation that baffles and fascinates at the same time. The Olympic movement would love to include cricket in its fold. Yet, the people in charge of international cricket happen to find the idea unappealing.

Cricket was once part of the Olympics, though its inclusion in the early days of modern Olympics was thought to be a joke. Back in the Paris Games in 1900, a cricket match was played between Great Britain and France. The British team was a touring club side; the French one was made of English expats. Never has Olympic gold been so easily earned.

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England captain says women’s game would get a huge boost from extra exposure

Evening Standard

Prized asset: Charlotte Edwards was named Women’s Cricketer of the Year. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

For all the success Charlotte Edwards has had as captain of the England women’s cricket team, she will feel wretched as she watches the London Olympics.

“I would be lying if I said I’m not gutted that I’m not involved in the Olympics. In years to come, Twenty20 cricket will be in the Olympics. But, by then, I won’t be involved. I just have to accept that I will have missed the home Olympics. Cricket at the Olympics would have raised the profile of women’s cricket in this country.”

The lack of profile is despite Edwards leading one of the country’s most successful sporting teams. England are holders of the 50-over World Cup, they won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2009 and go into the first match of the NatWest T20 series against India at Canterbury today on a winning streak of 14 matches.

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