Cricketing national identities

Reading articulate and well-informed books on post-War Caribbean cricket led me to the scarcely original theory that cricket is not played in that many countries but each has an identity  and style of its own.

The West Indies dominated cricket for 20 years under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards but no longer does so. The problems are twin-fold: The West Indies are a Federation – not a country – and its indigenous population is poor, so basketball in the USA now offers a more lucrative pathway. White ball franchises offer year-round cricket but at the expense of Test cricket and the West Indian board now plan Test matches around the tourist isles of Antigua, Grenada and St. Lucia.

The power in world cricket vests in Australia, England and India.

In a word – Australian cricket is competitive. This reached its apogee during the reign of head coach Justin Langer but, after a scandal in South Africa, the culture has changed.  The Aussies still have some fine players in Steve Smith, Marcus Labaschagne, Travis Head, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon, but not the brutal ruthlessness of their heyday.

England now are harder to classify.  Time was when the MCC ruled world cricket. The MCC is made up of committees and Gubby Allen headed most of them.

His main allies were Pelham Warner (they both had  stands at Lords named after them) and another Middlesex captain Walter  Robins (he only got a statue).  Now we have the ECB , the Barmy Army , Sky as paymaster and Bazball so the landscape has changed .

They were seen to represent a public school, colonial ethos but – to be fair – though they mismanaged situations, most notably the d’Olivera non-selection, there is no suggestion of corruption.

Such a charge can be levelled against cricket in India and Pakistan.

India has produced world class cricketers from Tendulkar down to Kohli – and the IPL – but I frankly admit I don’t like the Indian  contribution. The IPL refuses cricketers from Pakistan and has diminished Test cricket. India has shown no inclination to share its wealth with the less affluent Test nations.

Sri Lanka once fused brilliance in white ball and red ball cricket but their conveyor belt of talent ended with Jayawardene and Sangakara.

This leaves New Zealand and South Africa. An all-time New Zealand Best XI would beat most:

Brendan McCallum, Nat Astle, Glenn Turner , Martin Crowe, Kane Williamson, Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns, Tim Southbee, Trent Boult, Daniel Vettori but rugby union is their national game.

South Africa has been re-admitted to the family of nations and takes its sport seriously but has issues with the quota system.

That leaves Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, who do not attract the big beasts, and Afghanistan who chiefly play T20.

My analysis is deficient as it does not cover white ball cricket.

Imagine the fortunes that Gary Sobers might have made in the White ball franchises – or Ted Dexter who, it’s sometimes forgotten, took 400 first class wickets – or even the lesser-known Joey Solomon, a master fielder?