Question

Colonial expansion and the game of cricket in pararaph.

Answer 1

Some English team games like hockey and football became international games and played all over the world but cricket remained a colonial game. Cricket remained limited to the countries that had once been part of the British Empire. The pre-industrial oddness of cricket made it a hard game to export to other countries except British Colonies. It took root only in the countries that the British conquered and ruled. In these colonies, cricket was established as a popular sport either by white settlers, as in West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Zimbabwe and Kenya or by local elites who wanted to copy the habits of their colonial masters, as in India.

While British imperial officials brought the game of cricket to the colonies, they made little effort to spread the game, especially in colonial territories where the subjects of empire were mainly non-white, such as India and the West Indies. In these countries, playing cricket became a sign of superiority,  social and racial status. The Afro-Caribbean population was discouraged from participating in organized cricket club, which remained dominated by the White Plantation Owners and their servants. The first non-white club in the West Indies was established towards the end of the nineteenth century. Despite the domination of the white elite class in cricket in West Indies, the game became highly popular in the Caribbean.

Cricket in colonial India was organised on the principles of race and religion. The first record we have of cricket being played in India is from 1721, an account of recreational cricket played by English sailor in Cambay. The first Indian club, The Calcutta Cricket Club, was established in 1792.