How class based does cricket remain?

Cricket, along with the railways and the education system, is one of the many aspects of the Indian culture passed down from British times. But much like British times, cricket seems to be one of those things that is still separating its participants on class lines i.e. the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural and most of all, the batsmen from the bowlers.

This essay first clarifies its position on why it is clear from historical data that bowlers and batsmen are, more often than not, divided in their background in terms of the affluence of families and the rural/urban centers they were raised in and how it is usual to find that especially fast bowlers are from a different strata of society than most batsmen. In this context, let us first take the examples of a few Indian cricketers, past and present, who have followed the prescription to the letter.

The Indian team has seen many Princes grace the scorecard in its long history. From Ranjitsinhji, an imperious figure both on and off the field and after whom the Domestic First-Class tournament is named after, to the bespectacled Maharajah of Vizianagaram, an avid fan of the sport who did much for its promotion but was widely regarded as one of the worst international cricketers of all time, to the recently deceased Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, who incidentally was also partially blind, India has seen its richest segment participate in the sport of the masses. Yet, for the purpose of this essay, the importance of these men is that they were all batsmen. In the current team, we have Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman who are from rich backgrounds with a high educational attainment. So now what about the alternate version of this theory?

For this, we must go to South Africa, a country where the divisions on the lines of race and class are as deep-rooted as those of India. Their recent lot of fast bowlers, Makhaya Ntini, Mfuneko Ngam, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Marchant de Lange, are all from rural backgrounds with little to no coaching. In the words of former cricketer Peter Kirsten,” They are mentally tougher and not as pampered as other players in their early days. And they are also hungrier.” It is now an observable phenomena that rural players are selected, more often than not, as fast bowlers. The current lot of South African batsmen are from the more renowned schools in urban centres. Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Abraham Benjamin de Villiers and Jacques Rudolph are all from reputed sports universities in cities such as Johannesburg, Pretoria and East London.

Even in India, with its limited stock of fast bowlers, we have seen that most of them come from a rural environment, with names such Mohammad Nissar, Kapil Dev Nikunj, Zaheer Khan and India’s latest, Umesh Yadav having all come from rural backgrounds. Even the man who made Bradman look ungodly during the Bodyline series, Harold Larwood, was a coal worker at the age of 14 and later took to club cricket to earn a living. And this trend is foreseeable in almost all Test playing countries.

We have thus seen that there does indeed exist a divide in the location of the centres from where cricketers possessing different skills originate. To some extent, this has been observed in most cricketing countries but for the purpose of this paper, has been proved with reference to the situations in India and South Africa.

So now the question must be asked, why does this divide exist? Is it the attitude or the lifestyle that contributes to this bifurcation of talent and physical ability? Are there some key aspects that can only be trained with the help of coaches? Does a rural atmosphere create more robust bodies capable of handling the loads of fast bowling as compared to a more sedentary urban setting? Since these are all qualitative in nature, this paper will seek to answer the question with the help of a more quantitative aid, i.e. the cost of training and equipment required.

To put it bluntly, batsmen often require specialized equipment which includes items used for personal protection, clothing, apparel such as shoes and other accessories according to personal preferences, while bowlers need only buy clothing and shoes. An entire cricketing set can cost up to and over $200 in the market depending on quality of manufacturer. In a country like India, where the average Per Capita Income is $1,371 (International Monetary Fund, 2010), this represents a considerable investment. While considering costs, we also see that the cost of enrolling a child into a reputed educational institute or a coaching centre becomes prohibitive. When training a fast bowler, however, most former cricketers agree that it is best not to coach youngsters as it inhibits their natural athletic movement which may cause injuries. For example, the likes of Makhaya Ntini and Kapil Dev had actions that were deemed to be anatomically strenuous but had relatively injury free careers since it was a motion that their bodies were naturally suited to. Sri Lanka is a prime example of countries telling their coaches not to interfere with bowlers natural actions and that has given them bowlers such as Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga. The world leading fast bowlers of Pakistan are often given no formal training and they continue to churn out fast bowlers of repute. Hence, it can be observed that fast bowlers require lesser finance to train for and perfect their art, thereby making it suitable for those either with lower incomes or in places where adequate infrastructure for training might not exist.

So finally what can we conclude about this inherent division of labour in our game? Even though every day rules, regulations and formats are being changed, the defined roles of participation from the different groups in a population continue to remain the same. And being a sport which is meant for the masses, isn't that what counts, that every part of our national heritage and segment of population, whether it be from the bustling metropolitans of India to the innumerable rural centres of Bharat, be represented on a cricket field?