John Arlott - Working Abroad

Working Abroad

Ramchandra Guha, writes about the interaction John Arlott had with Vijay Merchant; he describes Arlott's background with the "prejudices of a conventional British upbringing." In 1946, Arlott asked Merchant "whether in view of the ongoing sectarian violence, India really deserved independence. Should not the white man, he said, stay on to secure the peace?" Guha writes that "...Friendship with Merchant broadened his social and political horizons". In 1948, he travelled to South Africa to cover the England cricket team's tour for the BBC, and openly voiced his distaste for the country's apartheid policy., When asked to mark his race on an immigration form - whether "white, Indian, coloured, black", Arlott wrote "human".

Arlott visited Australia during the winter of 1954-55, to cover the successful defence of The Ashes by the team led by Len Hutton. His next and last overseas assignment as a cricket commentator was over 20 years later when the BBC flew him out to Australia to commentate on the 1977 Centenary match where he classically described "the seagulls standing in line like vultures for Lillee".