Thanks to Adam Swift for pointing me to Radio 3’s Sunday Feature, a wonderful if mournful lament by Darcus Howe. Ostensibly an investigation of CLR James’ question “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?” it turns into a reflection on the decline both of the game and of the moral character of West Indian society, but retains throughout the spirit of James’ approach. It is also a moving personal tribute by Howe to James who was, as far as I can work out, some sort of cousin, not, as the site says, his nephew. Listen here. Mike Atherton is also featured,a nd is excellent: the question I was posed was whether there is any other sport in which a national team could have, within a generation, two captains as thoughtful as Atherton and Brearley.
And don’t stop when it is over — hold on a couple of minutes to hear Richard Thompson singing Plastique Bertrand’s “Ca plane pour moi”. On Radio 3!
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eeyore von bladet 02.22.06 at 11:00 am
the question I was posed was whether there is any other sport in which a national team could have, within a generation, two captains as thoughtful as Atherton and Brearley.
Whereas I am prompted to wonder if this is necessarily to cricket’s credit. If Oxbridge Blues make up a substantial part of cricket’s upper echelons, could it not be because the talent pool is woefully restricted, or that the game’s caste system is absurdly resilient?
(C.f., Yorkshire’s deplorable record at recruiting from its sub-continental diaspora population, or the fact that Panesar just recently became the first Sikh to take a wicket for England.)
nick s 02.22.06 at 12:04 pm
(The Thompson track is from the new box-set: fifty quid well spent.)
nick s 02.22.06 at 12:32 pm
Many commentators pin the decline to satellite broadcasts of NBA games reaching the Caribbean, but there’s a credible argument that Test success contributed to the decline of inter- and intra-island competition, as the leading WI cricketers moved to the English county game. That’s to say, the NBA didn’t just offer riches and individual glory (and lucrative college scholarships): it filled a domestic gap that Test dominance helped create.
harry b 02.22.06 at 3:49 pm
I don’t know Des. One difficulty is that a good number of Oxbridge Blues only got to go to Oxbirdge because they were great cricketers (not Brearley, for sure, but Atherton quite likely). Over the years since Hutton became captain England hasn’t exactly dominated the game, but has often held its own against teams with apparently more democratic regimes. Since Hutton it’s hard to think of a captain who was clearly selected on class-related grounds (Cowdrey, maybe?), again certainly not Atherton or Brearley (despite what Boycott might have thought). Some, perhaps, were rejected or demoted for class-related reasons (Illingworth?).
No question, of course, that an upper caste controls the management of the game, but not so obvious that it has dominated the composition of the teams in the past XX years.
So, to buy the new box set or not to buy it? nick s — persuade me.
John 02.22.06 at 4:10 pm
the question I was posed was whether there is any other sport in which a national team could have, within a generation, two captains as thoughtful as Atherton and Brearley.
Michael Lynagh and John Eales would be fairly strong contenders.
des von bladet 02.22.06 at 5:22 pm
I was thinking of a more deeply-entrenched classisme, where the Right Sort of Chap is intrinsically more likely to play at all (as a batsman, at least — have there been any significant Posh Bowlers in the recent past?), and his reputation as a bit of a thinker would stand him in good stead for election to the captaincy.
Atherton was the batsman I imprinted on as a newbie cricket fan, and his knock at the Wanderers remains the highlight of my pantheon of great cricket moments, and by all accounts he is the heir apparent to Benaud as commentator, but he doesn’t (unlike Brearley) seem to have been really that great a captain.
Vaughn (with a little help, but only a little) from Fletcher has remained worth his place as captain through some very moderate patches in his batting form and he turned pro at 17; it will certainly be interesting to how he turns out as an ex-player.
tom van dyke 02.22.06 at 5:37 pm
“What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?â€
Indeed, which is why New Zealand just hired as a coach ex-American AAA baseballer Mike Young, who has already made Australia the best fielding side (by far) in cricket history.
harry b 02.22.06 at 6:37 pm
I think Brearley’s reputation as a thinker (especially as a free thinker) might have kept him out of the side and away from the captaincy for a long time. I gather that his support for D’Oliveira and sanctions against South Africa harmed his career. I’m sure he doesn’t regret it for a moment (he went in with his eyes open). These guys don’t like thinkers!
But I take your point. Certainly the non-posh captains have been tolerated rather than celebrated.
Atherton was a good-ish (far from great) captain in bad circumstances, and a batsman who would have been one of the greats but for his back pain. Brearley was a truly great captain, and an outstanding batsman. But by the time he was allowed to show that he was a great captain he was no longer an outstanding batsman. My phrasing is misleading — I meant that they are thoughtful people who were also captains, rather than thoughtful captains (though they were that too).
bad Jim 02.23.06 at 3:42 am
I’m still not sure about the Thompson box set. It seems to have nothing from the French, Frith, Kaiser & Thompson collaboration, of which I seem to have only the second of two issues, the one with the march of the plastic surgeons
as well as a manic version of “Loch Lomond”.
chris y 02.23.06 at 4:18 am
I’m sure the last two comments have strayed in here from another thread, but bad jim reminds me, a bit tortuously, that Derek Pringle was a serious Half Man Half Biscuit freak. Doesn’t make him a posh bowler, but it makes him a much more interesting one.
I always wanted to go to one of those charity matches where the players are introduced by their chosen music, and watch Pringle marching to the wicket to the strains of “99% of Gargoyles look like Bob Todd”.
nick s 02.23.06 at 6:02 am
So, to buy the new box set or not to buy it? nick s—persuade me.
A few of the live tracks have been floating round on bootlegs, and there are a few notable absences, or at least ‘would-have-like-to-sees’. But the packaging is lovely, the novelty songs are a treat, and you won’t be duplicating 90% of your collection, which is the usual worry with box-sets.
soru 02.23.06 at 6:23 am
and you won’t be duplicating 90% of your collection, which is the usual worry with box-sets.
Ok, that’s one copy sold.
Harry 02.23.06 at 10:36 am
thanks nick s, I’m persuaded.
bad jim, it looks like everything is solo (or with his band), but Drowned Dog Black Night is from one of those French Frith Kaiser and Thompson collaborations, I think.
If I’d known that Pringle was a fan of HMHB (there are less posh things to be, but I can’t think of any off hand) I’d have liked him a lot more at the time.
yonray 02.23.06 at 10:44 am
You know Bob Willis was such a fan that he had a middle name put in by deed-poll: “Dylan”
Mr Ripley 02.23.06 at 12:44 pm
Harry –also “Killerman Gold Posse” and “Now That I Am Dead.” Other delights from the box set’s first half (I’ve only heard that much of it) are an impassioned “Crazy Man Michael,” a song which RT only began singing thirty-five years after he’d written it; a twelve-and-a-quarter minute “Sloth” with RT, Linda, Simon Nicol, and Pete Zorn on vocals; a ruthless “Calvary Cross”; a driving “Don’t Let a Thief Steal into Your Heart,” and a killer “Gethsemane.”
dave heasman 02.24.06 at 4:14 am
“a ruthless “Calvary Crossâ€; a driving “Don’t Let a Thief Steal into Your Heart,†and a killer “Gethsemane.†”
For a Moslem he sure uses a lot of Xtian imagery, don’t he?
The late W. G Grace 02.24.06 at 11:20 am
“Have there been any significant Posh Bowlers in the recent past?” Not necessarily posh, but public school and Cambridge-educated, Phil Edmonds, who interestingly wasn’t quite such a fan of Brearley.
As for Yorkshire’s failure to put any of its Indian-descended qualifiued players into the county team, it’s done just as badly with white native definitely Yorkshire players. Racial prejudice is merely an aggravating factor to pettiness.
The main reason for cricket’s upper class bias- which i think is increasing- is becuase it takes a lot of tuition with players in childhood. At one time schoolteachers at state schools did this voluntarily, but not any more, which means that it is eithe clubs- which are regionally varied in number- or public schools which teach children cricket.
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