In the days when there was no money in cricket, England, part of a colonial power, and Australia, a largely white colony, ruled the game. As the two original members of the ICC (International Cricket Council now), they had the power of veto. It was a skewed system.
Still, England saw it as a moral responsibility to take the game to the colonies. Perhaps they needed teams they thought they could beat; perhaps it was a way of inculcating certain values in the locals. Perhaps was to emphasise Englishness through sport.
Whatever it was, and despite the obvious condescension involved, the game spread. India, the West Indies, New Zealand were all playing Test cricket by the 1930s; South Africa played their first Test in 1889, and played a ‘World Cup’ with the other two ICC members of the time, England and Australia in 1912. That triangular series flopped badly. Perhaps the realisation dawned then that the cozy club was too cozy. There needed to be greater variety, a better range of styles, more diversity.
