New Worlds and Old Prejudices: Australia, Cricket and the Subcontinent: 1880–1960

Abstract

Until recently, Australia's cricketing past has been coloured by an anglocentric bias. Australian cricket writers, players and administrators mainly have deemed Australian series with subcontinental countries of much lesser importance than Ashes contests. In surveying Australia's cricketing relations with the subcontinent from the 1880s until Australia's first fully fledged official tour of the region in 1959–1960, this paper seeks to redress this imbalance. The paper explores how initial cricketing relations were viewed within the prism of Australia's traditional cricketing ties with England. This did not alter with India's attaining official Test match status in the 1930s. Australian tours of India were confined to unofficial teams, and it was not until 1947–1948 that the first official exchange occurred. As this paper documents, the importance of subcontinental cricket tours increased after the war, as both Labor and Liberal Coalition governments encouraged the use of cricket to foster diplomatic ties at a time of increasing decolonisation and when Indian and Australian external relations were ideologically opposed. The governments' efforts were not fully supported by many Australian cricketers and administrators. While some, such as the Australian captain Ian Johnson, embraced cricketing diplomacy, many of his colleagues coloured these new cricketing worlds with old Australian prejudices.

Keywords::

• international relations
• Australian history
• sport
• cricket
• diplomacy
• India

Notes

^1.O'Neill, Ins & Out, 63–4.

^2.Harvey, My World of Cricket, 121 and 131.

^3. See also Grout, My Country's Keeper, 58–9.

^4.Menzies, “Papers of R. G. Menzies, 1905–1978, MS4936.”

^5.Horne, Lucky Country, 40.

^6.Bose, History of Indian Cricket, 45.

^7. Horne, Lucky Country, 40.

^8.Majumdar, Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom, 151.

^9.Sen, Migrant Races, 32.

^10.Singleton Argus, June 11, 1898, 6.

^11.Walker, Anxious Nation, 75.

^12.Harte, History of Australian Cricket, 192–3.

^13.Kohn, Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, 184 and Fingleton, Brightly Fades the Don, 29.

^14. Access to the records of the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket has only been granted selectively and not to the present authors. Access to these records would permit a clearer understanding of the Board's position in this instance. Apart from Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, which is based on official sources but is not referenced, key sources remain the newspaper press, player accounts, diplomatic sources and the works of other scholars.

^15. Bose, History of Indian Cricket, 50–2, 91–6; Majumdar, Twenty-two Yards to Freedom, 26–7, 223–5 l and Majumdar, Once Upon a Furore, 21–31.

^16.Canberra Times, January 30, 1951, 3; Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 91.

^17.The Argus (Melbourne), February 27, 1935, 11.

^18.Canberra Times, March 26, 1935, 1.

^19. Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 90 and Majumdar, Once Upon a Furore, 21–31.

^20.Advertiser, August 9, 1935, 24; Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 1935, 13; The Argus (Melbourne), August 23, 1935, 13 and Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 91–3.

^21. Macartney and Ryder played their last Tests in 1926 and 1929, respectively. Other prominent team members such as Bert Ironmonger, ‘Hammy’ Love and ‘Stork’ Hendry retired from Sheffield Shield cricket. The notable exceptions were Ron Oxenham and the Tasmanian, Ron Morrisby. Oxenham's Shield career continued until 1936–1937, although his Test career ended in 1931, well before the tour. Morrisby, however, continued representing Tasmania until 1951. For full career details, see http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/2/2642/all_teams.html [accessed 2 July 2013].

^22.The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), August 9, 1935, 13.

^23. Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 94–6 and Kalgoolie Miner, July 27, 1935, 4.

^24.The Times of India (Mumbai), November 2, 1935, 13; November 4, 1935, 12.

^25. Ibid., November 4, 1935, 12.

^26. During the period covered in this paper, the Imperial Cricket Conference was ruled by its foundation members – the Marylebone Cricket Club and the Australian and South African boards – who held the power to veto any resolutions passed by the majority of ICC members. This power was only rescinded in 1992. See Haigh and Frith, Inside Story, 276.

^27. Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 104.

^28.Mirror (Perth, WA), March 7, 1936, 15.

^29. Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 110.

^30.The Argus (Melbourne), June 16, 1939, 18.

^31.Canberra Times, March 9, 1940, 2 and Rosenwater, Sir Donald Bradman, 328–9.

^32.Jaggard, “Forgotten Heroes,” 69–70.

^33.Cashman, “Australia,” 47–8.

^34.Whitington, Quiet Australian, 127, 130, 132 and 137.

^35. Grout, My Country's Keeper, 52–61, 151–4; Harvey, My World of Cricket, 120–31 and Mackay, Slasher Opens Up, 55–7, 78–85.

^36.Sen, “History Without a Past,” 100.

^37. Whitington, The Quiet Australian, 138.

^38. For a contrasting view of the Calcutta riot, see William Marien's reports of the match. Sydney Morning Herald, November 24, 1945, 1.

^39. Haigh and Frith, Inside Story, 197.

^40. “Indian Cricket Team – To Australia from India,” A 1068 T47/290, 1947. National Archives of Australia (NAA).

^41.Bolton, “Evatt, Herbert Vere (Bert) (1894–1965),” 108–114; Whimpress, “Evatt, Herbert Vere,” 177–9 and Whitington, The Quiet Australian, 144.

^42.Gurry, India: Australia's Neglected Neighbour? 3–12.

^43. Australian High Commission in India to the Editor, Department of Information, “India – Visit of Indian Cricket Team to Australia,” September 25, 1947, A 1068, M47/9/2/30. NAA.

^44.Stoddart, “Identity Spin,” 63–74.

^45.Robinson, Between Wickets, 200.

^46. Bose, A History of Indian Cricket, 157 and 160.

^47. Bose, A History of Indian Cricket, 160–1 and Wadhwaney, Indian Cricket Controversies, 328.

^48.The Times of India (Mumbai), October 8, 1947, 6.

^49.Amarnath, Lala Amarnath, 126–7.

^50.Johnson, Cricket at the Crossroads, 175.

^51.The Age (Melbourne), February 4, 1948, 16.

^52.Page, Bradman, 286.

^53.The Times of India (Mumbai), November 6, 1947, 9.

^54. Kohn, Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence, 140 and 147.

^55. Fingleton, Brightly Fades the Don, 27–9 and Rosenwater, Sir Donald Bradman, 331–2.

^56.The Argus (Melbourne), April 1, 1948, 12; April 10, 1948, 3.

^57.Gurry, “Leadership and Bilateral Relations,” 510–26 and Menzies, Afternoon Light, 92.

^58. Menzies, Afternoon Light, 341.

^59. See Hutchins, “Social Conservatism and Cricket,” 55–66.

^60. Letter from Sir Hugh Foot to Menzies, February 19, 1953. Menzies Papers.

^61. Letter from Menzies to Hugh Foot, March 5, 1953. Menzies Papers.

^62. Cited in the Kingston (Jamaica) The Daily Gleaner (Jamaica), April 3, 1954, 1.

^63. Letter from Sir Hugh Foot to Menzies, June 21, 1955. Menzies Papers.

^64. Letter from Bradman to Menzies, August 4, 1955. Menzies Papers; Johnson, Cricket at the Crossroads, 204.

^65.Lindwall, Flying Stumps, 102.

^66.Swanton and Melford, The World of Cricket, 221; The West Australian (Perth), February 8, 1950, 17.

^67.The Courier-Mail (Brisbane), November 14, 1952, 4.

^68. Letter from Vizianagram to Menzies, April 21, 1955, Menzies Papers. For a list of Australia–New Zealand first-class and Test Matches, see http://www.cricketarchive.com/cgi-bin/scorecard_oracle_reveals_results.cgi (accessed June 20, 2013).

^69.Walker, “General Cariappa Encounters ‘White Australia’,” 389–406.

^70. Letter from Menzies to Jack Ledward, May 9, 1955. Menzies Papers.

^71. Letter from Richard Casey to Robert Menzies, September 1, 1955. Menzies Papers.

^72. Letter from M. K. Cariappa to Robert Menzies, November 10, 1955. Menzies Papers.

^73. Letter from Keith Miller to Menzies, March 1, 1956. Menzies Papers.

^74. Letter from Menzies to Miller, undated. Menzies Papers.

^75.The Times of India (Mumbai), August 16, 1956, 1.

^76. Ibid., September 26, 1956, 1; October 3, 1956, 1.

^77. Ibid., August 29, 1956, 10.

^78. Ibid., February 28, 1956, 10.

^79. Mackay, Slasher Opens Up, 78 and Harvey, My World of Cricket, 125.

^80. Mackay, Slasher Opens Up, 55.

^81.The Times of India (Mumbai), September 2, 1956, 13; September 22, 1956, 10.

^82. Ibid., October 14, 1956, 12.

^83. Ibid., October 18, 1956, 10.

^84. Ibid., October 17, 1956, 12; October 22, 1956, 10.

^85. Ibid., October 28, 1956, 4.

^86. Letter from Menzies to Gubby Allen, February 15, 1957. Menzies Papers.

^87.The Times of India (Mumbai), October 22, 1956, 10.

^88. Letter from Richie Benaud to Menzies, March 12, 1959. Menzies Papers.

^89.Benaud, Anything But … An Autobiography, 109.

^90. Harvey, My World of Cricket, 131.

^91. Grout, My Country's Keeper, 53 and 152.

^92.Favell, By Hook or by Cut, 126 and 127 and Grout, My Country's Keeper, 54.

^93. The Term is used by Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 4.

^94. Bill Lawry quoted Coward, Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, 5; see also, Keith Stackpole, Not Just for Openers, 66–78.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tom Heenan

Tom Heenan teaches sport and Australian studies at Monash University. He is the author of From Traveller to Traitor: the Life of Wilfred Burchitt and with David Dunstan is a contributor to the Cambridge Companion to Cricket.

David Dunstan

David Dunstan teaches sport and Australian studies at Monash University. He is a contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography and with Tom Heenan is a contributor to the Cambridge Companion to Cricket.