Examine the argument by Hilary Beckles that West Indies Cricket is now in the Age of Globalization

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players who switch between batting and fielding. While one team bats and tries to score runs, the other team bowls and fields, trying to out the batsmen. In 1646, the first ever recorded cricket match took place in Kent, South East England.1 Continuing into the 1700s, Cricket was popular in England and in 18th century it finally began arriving in other parts of the globe and was introduced to the West Indies by colonists.2 As quoted from Fire and Babylon, 2008, People picture the sunlit islands of the Caribbean to be a place of paradise, but things were not always so peaceful. Our history has been a long and painful struggle against forces that denied and oppressed us. Babylon. And only through cricket could we win our freedom. West Indies cricket became a means for the oppressed island nations to emerge out of the darkness of colonization. Regarded as victims of history by some, the West Indies produced a cricket team who proved themselves as one of the, if not the, worlds best team from the 70s to the early 90s. Modernly, the game has been affected by geographical and cultural differences and it is the argument of some that West Indies Cricket is in the age of globalization in which commercialism has affected the game. As to whether this is true will be further discussed. Cricket was adopted in the West Indies for three main reasons according to Dominic Malcolm: firstly, it gave the white colonialists, though far removed from England, an avenue to demonstrate their loyalty to the Crown. Secondly, the colonialists wanted to prove that the heat of the tropics had not decreased their sportsmanship, (they wished to reiterate their Englishness) and finally, after the abolition of slavery, cricket was used as a means of separating the elite from
1 2

Bowen, Rowland. Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970. Ibid

the uncivilized. Malcolm posits that because of these factors, cricket became widespread in the Caribbean during the second half of the 19th century. Despite the games popularity, membership into clubs and teams at schools were limited and based not upon playing ability, but upon color, wealth and social standing. Yelvington, 1990, notes blacks performed restrictive roles. At first, they were allowed to prepare pitchesand a few were allowed only to bowl and retrieve batted balls during practice sessions. There is also a saying, put on your whites; it is explained by Frank E Manning as instructive, meaning to put on the usually white or cream colored (hence whites), shoes, pants, shirt, sweater, protective gloves and knee pads that comprise a typical cricket uniform. This can be seen as symbolic of the black struggle in cricket, and on a wider scale, the black struggle under British colonialism. Blacks dress up in whites to play a game they have transformed into a celebration of black culture he states.3 There was a succession of black goals in cricket. 1884 marked the formation of the West Indies cricket team and in 1900 blacks got a chance to bat although still in the minority. Fitz Hinds of Barbados, Burton of Guyana, Ollivierre of St Vincent, S. Wood of Trinidad and Constantine of Trinidad were a part of the West Indian team that was invited to go to England for a match. Other goals were: gaining places on island wide teams and regional tours and as recently as 1959 the first black captain was named, Sir Frank Worrell; a position that was usually reserved for whites. Under Garfield Sobers leadership, domination in the sport was achieved, referred to by some as the First rising of West indies Cricket. The second rising, characterized by nationalism and solidarity began with Kanhai in the early 1970s and matured under Lloyd; in the period between 1978 and 1994. Cricket

Frank E. Manning. Celebrating Cricket: The Symbolic Construction of Caribbean Politics. American Ethnologist, Volume 8, Issue 3. Pages 616632. 1981.

successes during this period brought recognition to Afro-West Indians internationally and in the upper classes of society. This was an age of the major Caribbean territories asserting their independence. We wanted to show our emergence as a nation, says Sir Vivian Richards, People were finally seeing themselves as West Indians and not Englishmen living in the Caribbean.4 What the politicians could not achieve with the Federation, the cricketers did; while playing on the field they put aside all the differences and the issues which the islands had, uniting the region together collectively where everyone could speak as a unit. As the West Indies team began to win consistently an age of nationalism emerged which triggered a pride in the workplace, the way islanders dressed, even in the in the way they went into studios and recorded. This period in time is linked to a strong emergence of culture in the Caribbean. Singers like Jimmer Cliff as well as Bob Marley and the wailers emerged with hits like the well-known get up, stand up, stand up for your rights. The sport was gradually transformed into a powerful symbol of black ability, achievement and aspiration.5 After this period however, the West Indies Cricket Team took a fall. This brings one modernly to what some refer to as the third rising, and what Hilary Beckles specifically refers to as the Age of Globalization. It is posited that there are generational mindsets and ideologies that exist presently, that are significantly different from those that existed regarding cricket in the past, referred to as a changing paradigm in West Indies Cricket.6 The indication of crickets globalization can be seen in the existence of global cricketing superstars such as Sir Vivian Richards, Chris Gail and again Brian Lara. These men are known to millions around the world, Brian Lara being the only batsman to have ever scored a hundred, a double century, a triple century, a quadruple century and a quintuple century in first class games
4

Riley, Stevan. Fire in Babylon. Documentary, 120 minutes. Revolver Entertainment, 2008 Stoddart, Brian. Cricket, social formation and cultural continuity in Barbados: a preliminary ethno history.1987. 6 Beckles, Hilary. The Development of West Indies Cricket: Vol. 2: The Age Globalization. UWI Press, 1998.
5

over the course of a senior career.7 The well-known movie, Slumdog Millionaire, was another step in the globalization of cricket. The final question of the game show in the movie was: which cricket batsman had scored the highest number of first class centuries? The world now knows the answer to be Jack Hobbs.8 The birth of a new, shorter version of the game of cricket, Twenty20, is another indicator of crickets globalization. Twenty20 transforms the way cricket is organized and played and many think this format is more TV-friendly than traditional cricket and has the capacity to relaunch cricket as a mass TV sport. This has led to large amounts of investment such as the multimillion dollar Stanford challenge matches staged in Antigua in 2008. It can be agreed then that cricket has gone global. Large amounts of money have established sponsorship and support systems to give cricketers around the world every possible advantage. There are however, threats emanating from the rapid commercialization of the game such as tensions between the different formats which now exist in the international game such as Test matches, one-day internationals, and Twenty20 internationals; these threaten the traditional formats of the game. Professor Hilary Beckles posits, No greater mistake can be made than to assume that globalization presents the West Indies with a level playing field on which all nations compete and cooperate on an equal footing guided by rules of mutual interdependence and social justice.9 In his view, larger and more powerful nations push for and legitimize globalization to facilitate themselves, whilst impoverishing the smaller, vulnerable nations. This is done with the use of the institutions of these wealthy nations, such as the World Bank, the IMF and the InterAmerican Development Bank. This has forced nationalism in the West Indies to be suppressed,
7 8

Player Profile: Brian Lara. ESPN, 7 June 2009. Rumford, Chris and Stephen Wagg . Cricket and Globalization. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 9 Beckles, Hilary. West Indian Nationhood and Cricket in the 21st Century. The Integrationist Article, 2005.

as well as caused them to become dependent on multinational financial and corporate institutions as guarantors of economic progress, social order and political viability. 10 Most Caribbean islands reacted to globalization by attempting to handle it alone, but this approach has fractured and marginalized CARICOM. It is felt that Cricket does an outstanding job of holding the West Indian people together, it has even been said it carries the nationalist baton, but these forces have found their way into the cricket culture. During the Lara affairs in which Brian Lara got into a series of conflicts with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Cricket Lara stated, was ruining his life and he was therefore prepared to refuse an offer of 3 million from a bat manufacturing company whose main condition was that he continues playing test cricket. Newly independent nationhood placed enormous weight on the shoulders of the early West Indian men involved in cricket. National representation and love of the game were their main sources of motivation and energy. References to million dollar deals were not experiences of that generation. 3 million dollars would never have been something offered in that time. This is one such indicator of the globalization occurring, with the nationalism in society and paradigm of cricket breaking down. At a time when the regions economy has been subject to structural decline and inability to guarantee proper living conditions for many, Laras success portrays him as a role model for teenage West Indians.11 His courage in telling the WICB that they cannot rule his life nor determine the contents of his decision making is admired. However, as the youth support Laras style, what the WICB and the positions it adopts and defends is pushed aside. No one knows the real future direction of cricket; there are many more significant changes, and new opportunities and threats on the horizon. However, on this same horizon there

10 11

Ibid Beckles, Hilary. West Indian Nationhood and Cricket in the 21st Century. The Integrationist Article, 2005.

is also a beacon of hope present, a light shining from the west so to speak. For a few hours on Sunday 7th October, 2012, thousands at the stadium and millions of TV viewers saw the West Indies obtain a 36-run victory over Sri Lanka in the World Twenty20 cricket. All those onlookers were taken back in time to the golden era of Caribbean cricket when the Calypso charmers as the West Indian team was called, filled stadiums from Mumbai to Melbourne.12 Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard provided a glimpse of what the current generation of fans missed out when Clive Lloyd was captain and the West Indies ruled cricket. To conclude, one can see from the existence cricketing superstars, shorter versions of the game and elaborate sponsorship systems that West Indian cricket really is in an age of globalization when compared to the past and first beginnings of cricket which were initially explored in this essay. Globalization however is not necessarily a good thing for the West Indies unless nationalism, which is still present but dwindling, can be rekindled and the separate islands view themselves as one unit. However judging from the latest new development, seeds of revival in West Indian cricket, despite globalization seem to have been sown, as well as nationalism being perhaps easier to rekindle than thought. Clive Lloyd stated just before the finals, We're very, very proud of what the team is doing. The Caribbean people are very happy. Just go out and win it. And win they did.

12

Samyal, Sanjjeev K. Caribbean cricket finally blooming again. Yahoo Cricket, 7 October, 2012.

Word Count: 197

Bibliography
1. Beckles, Hilary. The Development of West Indies Cricket: Vol. 2: The Age Globalization. UWI Press, Kingston, 1998. 2. Beckles, Hilary. The Development of West Indies Cricket: Vol. I; The Age of Nationalism, UWI Press, Kingston, 1998. 3. Bowen, Rowland. Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970. 4. Malcolm, Dominic. Its not Cricket: Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Inequalities. Journal of Historical Sociology Vol. 14 No. 3, 2001. 5. Samyal, Sanjjeev K. Caribbean cricket finally blooming again. Yahoo Cricket, 7 October, 2012. 6. Beckles, Hilary. West Indian Nationhood and Cricket in the 21st Century. The Integrationist Article, 2005. 7. Stoddart, Brian. Cricket, social formation and cultural continuity in Barbados: a preliminary ethno history. Journal of Sport history, Vol 14. No. 3, 1987. 8. ESPN. Player Profile: Brian Lara. ESPN, 7 June 2009. 9. Rumford, Chris and Stephen Wagg . Cricket and Globalization. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 10. Riley, Stevan. Fire in Babylon. Documentary, 120 minutes. Revolver Entertainment, 2011 11. Frank E. Manning. Celebrating Cricket: The Symbolic Construction of Caribbean Politics. American Ethnologist, Volume 8, Issue 3. Pages 616632. 1981.