This one-man cricket play premiered last summer in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s emotional testimony of his experiences as a British Asian player. A revised version now opens the week that a major report has found the English game guilty of deep-rooted racism. The story by playwright maatin, about a young cricket fanatic of Indian heritage may be set in the celebrated Ashes summer of 2005, but it could not feel more topical.
Ismail has just been promoted to the first XI and his ambitions are running high, sights set on his school’s all-time scoring record before he has even faced a ball. His Tendulkar-obsessed father calls him The Little Master; his friends call him Smiley because they can’t pronounce his name; his new coach calls him “boy” and seems not to like him very much.
