After the England World Cup Cricket Win: Is it still ‘Anyone but England?’ A comment on Mark Perryman
Mark Perryman, the veteran clean-shaven leftist, has written a piece on the Counterfire site about the left and cricket after England’s World Cup Cricket win on Sunday:
https://www.counterfire.org/articles/opinion/20434-what-do-they-know-of-cricket
Perryman makes decent points but I don’t agree with him that the left is somehow absent from the national conversation about cricket that the win sparked.
Of course historically cricket has been associated with the Tory Party and Theresa May was present at Lords on Sunday (as was Nigel Farage btw). The left has been a minority certainly when it comes to cricket in England and Wales. Perryman cites probably the best book ever written on cricket CLR James Beyond a Boundary but we shouldn’t forget the work of John Arlott, Guardian and Test Match Special journalist in fighting apartheid cricket in South Africa.
Things have moved on a bit since then. The sadly late Mike Marqusee wrote a great polemic on cricket called ‘Anyone but England’ and most reading this wont need any reminder of the notorious Tebbit Test, namely if you’re not cheering for England you’re not really English.
Anyone expecting me to say that after Sunday the links between cricket contests and anti-imperialism are in the past and it might be ok to wave the St George’s flag now and then will be disappointed.
There are a lot on the left who love cricket who have a background in the Caribbean or the Indian Sub-Continent who still see a victory for the West Indies or India or Pakistan against England at cricket as settling at several removes some old imperial scores. Likewise I find some Australians on the left who tell me they’re not interested in cricket because its associated with the political right.
But back to CLR James. How can you not, having been drawn in by the ebb and flow of a Test Match, and Sunday was sort of that on speed, be drawn into cricket.
As England captain Eoin Morgan, an Irishman, noted after the World Cup victory, one of the sides strengths is it diversity. Muslims Rashid and Mooen Ali (a Guardian columnist), Jofra Archer who has some Caribbean roots and Ben Stokes who I see is up for the New Zealander of the Year Award.
You might argue that in the context the old imperial battles of cricket are slightly subsumed by the reality that the England side now represents the imperial diaspora and the biggest match in the World Cup aside from the final was India v Pakistan in Manchester
The left should be able to appreciate a great achievement by the England cricket team but also grasp that those imperial battles at several removes in cricket are not yet done yet. Anyone but England perhaps not now but England or Anyone else if they’re a good side, quite possibly.
One day we may be able to enjoy cricket as culture and artistry in sport as CLR James saw it, though we’re not there yet.
In the meantime the left has things to say and are very much part of that national conversation about cricket. I’m off the Ashes in Birmingham in a fortnight and guess who I’ll be cheering for..
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