> --- Jose Rodriguez & Sally Everson <pepor at caribe.net>
> wrote:
> > I would say that for the Caribbean in general -
> > sports also has a political
> > dimension.
> > Cricket for the West Indies
>
> CLR James was a cricket columnist for The Guardian,
> and Duke has republished many of his columns in the
> collection Beyond A Boundary.
CLR James probably wrote more about cricket than he did about politics.
A more recent example of a talented left-wing writer on cricket/music/politics (sometimes all three) is --- strangely enough --- a US emigre, Mike Marqusee, author of Anyone_But_England:_Cricket_and_the_National_Malaise. Marqusee's War_Minus_The_Shooting is an entertaining, nuanced and multi-dimensional account of the 1996 Cricket World Cup. His most recent books are Chimes_of_Freedom, about Dylan's politics and Redemption_Song, about Muhammad Ali.
Links to some further reading:
27/07/01 What's Wrong With English Cricket? Summary: With the odds on England losing their seventh consecutive Ashes series, what's wrong with English cricket?. MIKE MARQUSEE, author of "Anyone But England - Cricket and the National Malaise", says the decline of the English game mirrors the country's political and social disorientation. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/sportsf/stories/s336108.htm
May 12, 2000 "Mammon at the wicket" In cricket, as elsewhere, customary ethical considerations of fair play have been blown away by the whirlwind of an unchained global capitalism, and the game has fallen victim to the spread of a market-driven culture of cynicism, hype and hustle. MIKE MARQUSEE IN recent years, the one thing cricket bosses in all countries have agreed upon is the need to "globalise the game". Each new international cricket venue - Dhaka, Dubai, Disneyworld - is hailed as a beach-head in an epic campaign for planetary status. Bu t as bribery and match-fixing allegations surface in country after country, global pretensions are degenerating into global farce. http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1709/17090140.htm
CRICKET'S RACIAL CONUNDRUM BY MIKE MARQUSEE (FROM _EAST_, NOVEMBER 1996) "When Devon Malcolm returned from England's ill-fated South African tour last winter, he wondered aloud whether his shabby treatment by the tour management might have had anything to do with his colour. He was promptly rounded upon by commentators who speculated that the hitherto cautious and mild-mannered fast bowler must have been "got at" by "militants". http://www.cricket.org/link_to_database/SOCIETIES/ENG/HR46/ARTICLES/RACIAL_CONUNDRUM.html