Politics and Sports - Cricket

Cricket

In 1969, the Marylebone Cricket Club refused to allow Basil D'Oliveira to play for England against South Africa for fear of upseting the apartheid regime. D'Oliveira was a coloured born in South Africa and refused permission to play for the South African team by the government, instead he played for England. D'Oliveria was one of the more likely players to be selected following his performance against Australia in the previous year's Ashes. However, he was not selected; it was suspected at the time that this was capitulation towards the apartheid regime.

Cricket has also had a hand to play in sporting diplomacy. Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Soviet pressure on India to deflect the tension they faced, in 1987 Pakistan's president at the time, General Zia ul-Haq, attended a test match between India and Pakistan in Jaipur - a visit that apparently helped cool a flare-up in tensions. Furthermore, following a fifteen year lull in test matches, cricket tours between India and Pakistan were revived in 2004 in the wake of diplomatic initiatives to bury half a century of mutual hostility. Both sides relaxed their tough visa regulations for each other, allowing thousands of fans to travel across the border.

In an attempt to replicate the cricket diplomacy of the past General Pervez Musharraf came to India in 2005 ostensibly for a cricket match. The trip, however, quickly took on the air of a summit as the sides were urged "to seize a historic chance to end their dispute over Kashmir." Often this rivalry has been tinged with a religious-political bent to it. A Pakistani fan in Karachi ran onto the pitch to attack the Indian captain, and fans threw stones at the Indian players during the match in Karachi. In 2000 right-wing Hindus dug up the cricket pitch in New Delhi to protest against the Pakistani team's visit. Following the Kargil conflict, and at various other times, there have also been calls to suspend cricketing ties between the two countries.

In reference to immigrants from the Caribbean and South Asia, British Conservative party member Norman Tebbit once a "cricket test" could adjudge a persons loyalty to England by determining whether or not they supported the England and Wales cricket team ahead of those from their own countries of origin.

In 2008, the England and Wales Cricket Board cancelled Zimbabwe's 2009 tour of England and suspended all bilateral relations between the two states in response to the situation regarding the 2008 Zimbabwean presidential election. MPs Jack Straw and Tessa Jowell wrote to the International Cricket Council asking then to ban Zimbabwe from international cricket.

China have also gotten in on the cricket diplomacy act. Cross-Strait relations have once again been the impetus for doing so. During the buildup to the 2007 World Cup, Antigua received a $55 million grant to build the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, while Jamaica received $30 million for a new Trelawny stadium. St. Lucia have also got both a cricket and a football stadium courtesy of China. China spent a remarkable $132 million on cricket facilities in the West Indies over the past few years, a massive amount compared to the International Cricket Council's paltry 10-year budget of $70 million to promote cricket globally. It is said that the motive for China's generosity is because "Most of the remaining countries that recognize Taiwan are located in the Caribbean and Latin America." The diplomacy paid off in the end as Grenada and Dominica derecognized Taiwan as an independent country. Further, "Of the remaining 24 countries that recognize Taiwan, four are in the Caribbean and two of these play cricket." Grenada previously had a stadium built by Taiwan, but saw it flattened by a hurricane. To join the action, China quickly came in to erect another stadium. Consequently, Taiwan took Grenada to a New York City court to force the latter to return the original loan.

Put on the back foot, a beleaguered Taiwan also used the World Cup to shore up its position among its shrinking West Indian support base. It doled out $21 million to St. Kitts and Nevis and $12 million to the even smaller St. Vincent and the Grenadines for cricket grounds. China's aggressive ambitions have benefited the Caribbean Islands as "Strategic analysts say China is laying out more money than is needed to just isolate Taiwan. China, which has built large embassies in each of the islands, now has a bigger diplomatic presence in the Caribbean than the United States, the superpower next door." And that "Mainland China's long-term strategy coincides with its foreign policy."

Following the death of Saeed Anwar's daughter he took to a more fundamental Islam and started growing a beard. He was then said to have been the turning point in the Islamisation of the Pakistani cricket team, which was also a reason for Yousuf Youhana's conversion to Islam. From the 2003 World Cup a more visible trend of religion was seen in the Pakistan team with many players having become more devout to the point of either leading prayers or growing beards as a symbol of being a "good Muslim" (with the notable exception of Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria (the latter being the only Hindu on the team). Even post-match interviews were preceded by Islamic salutations such as Bismillah ur Rehman rahim. Most famously, after the loss to arch-rival India at the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 Shoaib Malik came under fire for apologising "I want to thank everyone back home in Pakistan and Muslims all over the world. Thank you very much and I’m sorry that we didn’t win, but we did give our 100 per cent" for the defeat, which was particularly ironic considering Irfan Pathan, a Muslim was named Man of the Match for his performance in India's win, and Shah Rukh Khan was in the stands cheering on India. Following the 2007 World Cup and the loss to Ireland (an unranked cricket team), the religious influence was criticised for taking a toll on the team. The Islamisation of such a Western sport in Pakistan was seen as symbolic of the growing influence of religion in every field. In Pakistan, this trend was attributed to dating back to the tenure of the military government of General Zia-ul Haq where the focus of the youth was shifted from Pakistan as a nation-state and cultural-religious pluralism to Islam as a transnational identity, greater attention to conservative Islamic ritualism, and a perception of a global conspiracy against Muslims and admiration for militancy. A need was also seen to reorient sportsmen towards professionalism, discipline and rules and regulations. It was said that the focus of education and socialisation needed to return to a Pakistan that could not afford to be at war.

In 2011, India and Pakistan played each other in the 2011 Cricket World Cup for the first time since 26/11 attacks in Mumbai and a general souring of relations. The event was spontaneously attended by Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani of Pakistan and Manmohan Singh of India. Following the game, permission was granted for the two countries to play regular series against each other.