Following Jonny Bairstow’s dismissal at Lords on Sunday a Culture War has broken out as to whether his dismissal was in the ‘spirit of cricket’. Rishi Sunak says it wasnt.
In reality the concept, ill defined, is that cricket should be played fairly, with respect for opponents and no sharp practices. W G Grace is clearly a role model..
Even without the commercial pressures of modern sport the spirit of cricket is and always has been about imperial preference. England adheres to it as do Australia (but less so) and other countries not so much.
CLR James in Beyond a Boundary(1963) had some thoughts on the general subject
‘spirit,vision and self respect which was imposed on us by the fact that our masters, our curriculum, our code of morals, everything began from the basis that Britain was the source of all light and leading and our business was to admire,wonder, imitate,learn’
Leave a Reply