Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game, 1945-2017

Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game, 1945-2017 PDF

Author: Stephen Wagg

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-14

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1317557298

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Cricket is an enduring paradox. On the one hand, it symbolises much that is outmoded: imperialism; a leisured elite; a rural, aristocratic Englishness. On the other, it endures as a global game and does so by skilful adaptation, trading partly on its mythic past and partly on its capacity to repackage itself. This ambitious new history recounts the politics of cricket around the world since the Second World War, examining key cultural and political themes, including decolonisation, racism, gender, globalisation, corruption and commercialisation. Part One looks at the transformation of cricket cultures in the ten territories of the former British Empire in the years immediately after 1945, a time when decolonisation and the search for national identity touched every cricket playing region in the world. Part Two focuses on globalisation and the game’s evolution as an international sport, analysing: social change and the Ashes; the campaigns for new cricket formats; the development of the women’s game; the new breed of coach; the limits to the game’s global expansion; and the rise of India as the world’s leading cricket power. Cricket: A Political History of the Global Game, 1945-2017 is fascinating reading for anybody interested in the contemporary history of sport.

Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport

Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport PDF

Author: Rob Steen

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-06-26

Total Pages: 552

ISBN-13: 1408181363

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014 Spectator sport is living, breathing, non-stop theatre for all. Focusing on spectator sports and their accompanying issues, tracing their origins, evolution and impact, inside the lines and beyond the boundary, this book offers a thematic history of professional sport and the ingredients that magnetise millions around the globe. It tells the stories that matter: from the gladiators of Rome to the runners of Rift Valley via the innovator-missionaries of Rugby School; from multi-faceted British exports to the Americanisation of professionalism and the Indianisation of cricket. Rob Steen traces the development of these sports which captivate the turnstile millions and the mouse-clicking masses, addressing their key themes and commonalities, from creation myths to match fixing via race, politics, sexuality and internationalism. Insightful and revelatory, this is an entertaining exploration of spectator sports' intrinsic place in culture and how sport imitates life – and life imitates sport.

South Africa’s Greatest Bowlers

South Africa’s Greatest Bowlers PDF

Author: Ali Bacher

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 1776093828

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Who are South Africa’s greatest bowlers? The South African cricket team has always had a formidable bowling attack, feared by batsmen around the world. Kagiso Rabada appears near the top of the current ICC rankings, and previous teams and generations have included their own legends. But who are the greatest of them all? Following the success of their books on all-rounders and batsmen, Ali Bacher and David Williams now turn their attention to South Africa’s top bowlers. The book features early legends such as Hugh Tayfield, Neil Adcock and Peter Pollock; post-isolation stars Allan Donald, Fanie de Villiers, Makhaya Ntini and Paul Adams; and recent speedsters Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada. It also considers players who, but for apartheid, might have been their equals. South Africa’s Greatest Bowlers provides fascinating insights about each man’s background and career, their technique and their main achievements. Based on new interviews, the book will take the reader down memory lane as former and current players reminisce about their most important matches, the opponents they loved and hated bowling to, and the teammates they most respected. Written by cricket legend Ali Bacher and top journalist David Williams, this is a book that no cricket fan can be without.