Sport and Imperialism, Cricket and Class Domination

Abstract

Some view cricket as the most complex game in the world. It is played on an open field, with a “pitch” (a thin corridor of compacted soil, 22 yards in length) placed in the middle. At each end of the pitch, three cylindrical stumps loom up out of the ground to waist height, with two small chunks of wood (“bails”) forming a bridge between them at the top. Together, these constitute a “wicket,” somewhat shorter and narrower than the legs of a grown man.