In the latest episode we talk to historian and author Duncan Stone about his recent book ‘Different Class: The Untold Story of English Cricket’.
The conversation delves into the nebulous ‘Spirit of the Game’ and how it is emblematic of the fetishization of English cricket – which has turned a people’s game into a seemingly noble pursuit accessible mostly to a privileged class.
You can order the book here.
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Talking Points:
- The Spirit of the Game and why English cricket is its own enemy
- The distinctly English notion that cricket is superior on a moral level
- How the culture of English cricket was designed to be divisive
- The enduring baggage from the amateur era of English cricket
- The pivotal decision to take cricket off free-to-air television in 2005
- The high entry barriers for aspiring players with no cricket background
- What the Azeem Rafiq revelations teach us
- The fetishization of cricket in books borne out of white male privilege
- Outlawing of competitive cricket in the south of England for several years in the early 1900s
- The effect of T20 and The Hundred on the landscape of English cricket
Participants:
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Duncan Stone (@StoneDunk)
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Books discussed:
Anyone But England – Mike Marqusee
Beyond A Boundary – CLR James
Willow Wand – Derek Birley
Cricket: a history of its growth and development: Throughout the world – Rowland Bowen
Related:
English cricket has always been a people’s game, but that’s not what the elitists will have you believe – Duncan Stone – ESPNcricinfo
Whose game is it anyway? – Neil Tague interviews Duncan Stone – Big Issue North
The class and culture war at the heart of English cricket – David Hopps – ESPNcricinfo
ECB’s South Asian Action Plan fell short – Duncan Stone – The Cricketer
Law (19.8) and Order – 81allout podcast discussing the 2019 World Cup final
Clutch, pressure, choke: the language of cricketing discourse – 81allout podcast
The toxic side to the Australian way – 81allout podcast with Jarrod Kimber
Why is there stigma involved in running out a non-striker? Because it’s all about power – Sidharth Monga – ESPNcricinfo
Spirit of Cricket & the Mankad – Pakistan Cricket Podcast
Azeem Rafiq’s testimony exposes how power works in cricket – and in Britain – Jonathan Liew – Guardian
Class and myths of English cricket – Oborne and Heller podcast with Duncan Stone
Great cricket writers – and capping the Pope – Oborne and Heller podcast with Jon Hotten and Matt Thacker