What do they know of cricket who only cricket know, asked the great CLR James. He talked of cricket as a prism through which we might view society, and that remains as true now as in 1963, when Beyond a Boundary, his masterwork, was published. But despite the lofty claims those of us who truly love the game might make for it, cricket cannot offer a true reflection of life or of sport in general. Cricket stands apart. Cricket is different.
That’s the first thing to know as we consider a week of an exhilarating Ashes contest, but also the cloud of the damning Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report. It found what many of us had long discerned: a beautiful game blighted by “widespread and deep-rooted” racism, sexism, elitism and class-based discrimination at all levels.
