Cricket is an enduring paradox. On the one hand it symbolises much that is outmoded: imperialism; a leisured elite; a rural aristocratic Englishness. On the other it endures as a global game and does so by skilful adaptation trading partly on its mythic past and partly on its capacity to repackage itself. This ambitious new history recounts the politics of cricket around the world since the Second World War examining key cultural and political themes including decolonisation racism gender globalisation corruption and commercialisation. Part One looks at the transformation of cricket cultures in the ten territories of the former British Empire in the years immediately after 1945 a time when decolonisation and the search for national identity touched every cricket playing region in the world. Part Two focuses on globalisation and the game’s evolution as an international sport analysing: social change and the Ashes; the campaigns for new cricket formats; the development of the women’s game; the new breed of coach; the limits to the game’s global expansion; and the rise of India as the world’s leading cricket power. Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game 1945-2017 is fascinating reading for anybody interested in the contemporary history of sport. |Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game 1945-2017 | Sport & Leisure
