More Than Just a Game: Cricket in England and the West Indies

Abstract

This paper charts the history of cricket from the Victorian era in England, through the periods of imperialism, and independence, in the West Indies, and following it through into the present era of commercialisation. In so doing it attempts to illustrate how cricket, throughout its history, has been a game that has been driven by forces that lay, to borrow from cricketer and intellectual C. L. R. James, beyond its boundaries. That is to say, cricket has been driven by political forces that have embedded in the game various symbols and meanings that are dependent upon one’s relation to the game itself. Furthermore, by relating the case of cricket to other similar examples, it hopes to demonstrate how this politicization of sport is not unique to cricket.