The three cricket stories that appeared in Wednesday’s Guardian are a reminder of the significance of context, or what CLR James elegantly titled his classical text Beyond a Boundary.
First, Pranav Dhanawade, the son of a rickshaw driver from Mumbai, aspires to play for India to try to individually overcome the enduring obstacles of caste and poverty.
Second, Temba Bavuma, from the Langa township, becomes the first black South African to score a century, recognising the burden of responsibility as a black role model in challenging the legacy of apartheid. No easy task given the further investment needed in grassroots township cricket in order to maximise the opportunities of the “quota system”.
Third, the Jamaican, and former West Indian captain, Chris Gayle, one of the best one-day cricketers in the world, is blissfully ignorant of the significance of his sexist comments – and his position is defended by the chief executive of his current team, the Melbourne Renegades, as reflecting “cultural difference” – itself, a crude racist stereotype.
Mike Stein
Pudsey, West Yorkshire
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