Cricket in the Road

Cricket is a part of our rich Jamaican heritage. As children we would pull out all stops to play cricket, both girls and boys alike. At that time we improvised for both bat and ball. Our ball was most times an empty drink box stuffed with paper or other material. The bat was anything suitable such as a piece of board or a a branch that fell from the coconut palm which we would trim to meet our batting needs. Today cricket is not as prominent in the minds of youngsters, they are more of a football generation. Everybody wants to make the football team but there is not that much zeal towards cricket. I recently saw a boy walking on the compound with a bat on his shoulder and the children were looking at him as if he was crazy. It is just now that i am wondering if those looks were as a result of them not knowing what he was carrying!

Nikki,

Welcome!

There was a time when a Varsity match, Oxford and Cambridge, attracted 40-50,000 spectators and even more! There was a time when Cricket was the unchallenged national sport. There was a time when cricket could be seen in every park and on street, against walls etc!

That has now changed and it is the same for most countries, as cricket have to compete with choices and other distractions. Today's society is more a quick satisfaction one compared to times of old so it is understandable why not all are Cricket focused. Cricket was listened to on the wireless as commentators like Arlott and Raphie Knowles we as big as players as TVs were not available and when it was they were prohibitively expensive!

Clearly this change in emphasis is more obvious in certain places than others but, needless to say, the focus on Cricket has changed everywhere.

India now has quite a thriving football league and, no doubt, this will have an impact in time to come. 

Not all environments are the same but in many places in the UK, particularly (but not exclusively) the North of England, boys did improvise and played Cricket in the streets and strong fast bowlers like Larwood came from such a background and was also a coal miner!

Parks used to be full of Cricket but today the once great emphasis on Cricket is not as prevalent. However the Administrators, in the UK, have managed to ensure the game is marketed and promoted in such a way that, particularly Internationals, are over subscribed with patrons wanting to watch live for all 5 days!

I believe the love for Cricket is still there in the Windies and, importantly, the talent is there but the game is administered in a way that is very short term and the Administrators make it very unattractive to prospective players by their constant bickering and conflicts....

Now we have the competition of T20s and the future of Tests!