How cricket reflects and reveals Commonwealth heritage like no other sport
Hosts: Birmingham Dates: 28 July - 8 August Coverage: Watch live on BBC TV with additional streams on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, the BBC Sport website and the BBC Sport mobile app. .0.1.$paragraph-4.0">But cricket has always been part of the Commonwealth, or to give it another name, the Empire.
Like no other sport, cricket reflects and reveals the heritage of this part of British history.
"If you're a batter and you're out, you don't question the umpire's verdict," says Dr Prashant Kidambi of the University of Leicester, a specialist in Indian colonial history.
"This is a very good way to think about the relationship as seen the British, between the colonizers and the colonized.''< /p>
Kidambi Cricket Country's book examines the origins gambling there, especially in modern Mumbai where Lord Harris was the British Governor in the 1890s.
"As the Empire grew and cricket began to be played in different parts of the Empire, people like Lord Harris thought it was a sign of the success of Britain's civilizing mission," adds Kidambi.
"Cricket could be a metaphor for the Empire itself; ideas of hierarchy, obedience, respect for rules. But sport has also been, from the start, a terrain on which communities and societies have articulated their own identities.''
While cricket began as a means of making colonial subjects in India feel "more British", it has now become the most visible and dynamic means of demonstrating national identity Indian.
The same is true elsewhere.
For example, on the former British slave colony of Antigua. Here, while covering England's first Test against the West Indies in March, we spoke to the man who embodied independent black pride like no other cricketer - Sir Vivian Richards.
"I was pretty strong about it, so maybe that's why some people would look at me sometimes and say, 'Wow , what an arrogant guy, the way he comes out to beat" and stuff like that," Richards said.
"No, it's not arrogance. I just believed in human beings, that's the most important thing. I consider myself a human being, just like any other color on earth.
"As a people, we have given much - much to this world."
Richards, like many up in the Caribbean, urges greater recognition of the legacy of slavery.
"Say to generations and children let them know how some obviously got their wealth,” he said.
"We played a huge role, without being paid. So we hear a lot now about reparations. For me, it's a good decision.''
This is a matter of paramount importance for many islands where cricket is just a legacy of colonial rule.
But in Great Britain itself, deep issues of representation and accountability have been raised thanks to cricket.
Like no other sport, cricket reflects and reveals the heritage of this part of British history.
"If you're a batter and you're out, you don't question the umpire's verdict," says Dr Prashant Kidambi of the University of Leicester, a specialist in Indian colonial history.
"This is a very good way to think about the relationship as seen the British, between the colonizers and the colonized.''< /p>
Kidambi Cricket Country's book examines the origins gambling there, especially in modern Mumbai where Lord Harris was the British Governor in the 1890s.
"As the Empire grew and cricket began to be played in different parts of the Empire, people like Lord Harris thought it was a sign of the success of Britain's civilizing mission," adds Kidambi.
"Cricket could be a metaphor for the Empire itself; ideas of hierarchy, obedience, respect for rules. But sport has also been, from the start, a terrain on which communities and societies have articulated their own identities.''
While cricket began as a means of making colonial subjects in India feel "more British", it has now become the most visible and dynamic means of demonstrating national identity Indian.
The same is true elsewhere.
For example, on the former British slave colony of Antigua. Here, while covering England's first Test against the West Indies in March, we spoke to the man who embodied independent black pride like no other cricketer - Sir Vivian Richards.
"I was pretty strong about it, so maybe that's why some people would look at me sometimes and say, 'Wow , what an arrogant guy, the way he comes out to beat" and stuff like that," Richards said.
"No, it's not arrogance. I just believed in human beings, that's the most important thing. I consider myself a human being, just like any other color on earth.
"As a people, we have given much - much to this world."
Richards, like many up in the Caribbean, urges greater recognition of the legacy of slavery.
"Say to generations and children let them know how some obviously got their wealth,” he said.
"We played a huge role, without being paid. So we hear a lot now about reparations. For me, it's a good decision.''
This is a matter of paramount importance for many islands where cricket is just a legacy of colonial rule.
But in Great Britain itself, deep issues of representation and accountability have been raised thanks to cricket.
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