And now for the cricket...
And now for the cricket...
As The Jakarta Post rarely carries stories on the game of
cricket in its sports pages, I shall contribute some -- but for
the letters page:
* It is said the late American comedian Groucho Marx was taken to
a cricket match and after 30 minutes of watching players in white
clothes moving with ballet-like movements over the green, was
asked how he was enjoying the game. "Fine," he said. "But when
does it begin?"
* It is the year 2007. On the BBC one morning, the newscaster
solemnly announces: "World War III has started. There have been
nuclear exchanges, and major cities are devastated. Whole
populations are in panic on four continents: millions are fleeing
to the countryside." After a pause, the announcer continues:
"More news on the war later. Firstly, we turn to... the cricket!"
* King George III's German-born son, eager to prove his English
heritage, was president of the London Club, which published the
game's first rules in 1774. Sadly, he died after being struck on
the head by a cricket ball. Of course.
* At Lord's cricket club, the world headquarters of the game,
smoking has finally been banned from its Long Room, the sacred
place for gentlemen. But the "gentlemen", even to this day, still
ban women from the club. The 19th century will one day end at
Lord's -- perhaps in the year 2001.
In Hong Kong, due to be returned to China on July 1, a group
of expatriates is now working hard to ensure that "this great
legacy of an empire" survives the Union Jack. A campaign is on to
teach more Chinese children to play cricket. The sport's local
chairman, Peter Slack, said recently: "It is a great game given
to those countries fortunate enough to have been colonized."
Oh sure, Mr. Slack. Let's ask the never-colonized people of
Thailand if they envy the history of say, Angola, where
independence movements were brutally suppressed by the
Portuguese. Perhaps that is why I am not enamored with cricket. I
equate it too much with colonialism and the Europeans -- only
cricket clubs of the past.
There is still hope for cricket, though. The best players
these days are those who were considered less fortunate in the
days of the British Empire.
FARID BASKORO
Jakarta