Cricket, politics, money

Labour Briefing no. 62, 11 May 1988, p. 13

Transcribed or corrected by hand from the printed page.

By-line as printed: Phil Hearse (Islington North CLP).

Slow Turn, by Mike Marqusee, Sphere Books, £2.95

"Keep politics out of sport" has been the South African battle cry, echoed by apartheid's many admirers in the cricketing establishment, as the sports boycott has constantly reminded white South Africans of their isolation.

Of course, under capitalism, sport and politics are intimately linked, at local, national, and international level.

When President Carter and Mrs Thatcher boycotted the Moscow Olympics, they knew full well, as does any serious commentator, that every entertainment, every mass spectacle has a political potential.

And in the era of nation states, sport can act as a potent symbol of national pride.

In the 1980s cricket has gone through an upheaval as the result of several factors. First, there has been the constant row over cricketing links with South Africa. Second, big money has come into cricket as never before, partially transforming the game itself through one-day and day-night matches.

And last, but not least, in the 1980s nearly all the black teams are better than nearly all the white teams — an historical reversal which doubtless reflects major shifts in power between the semi-colonies and imperialism (and the nature of West Indian fast bowling, but that's another story).

Nowhere do cricket and politics so immediately interact as on the Asian sub-continent. When Pakistani captain Imran Khan wanted to retire from test cricket, Pakistani President, Zia-al-Huq, virtually ordered him not to. Too much national pride was at stake.

Mike Marqusee's book is a political thriller which follows a touring party of English cricketers in India. An umpire is murdered and the local star all-rounder disappears. Shady characters, linked with big money and South Africa are at work.

But what is really going on? The book is told through the eyes of one of the English tourists — Dave Stott, an ordinary county professional who never quite made it. He, like many of his compatriots in real life, is never sure who is pulling the strings in the background.

Mike Marqusee's book got a good reception when it was published in hardback, even from the Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, well known foe of I.T. Botham.

It would not surprise most cricket fans who buy a copy that Mike Marqusee is a keen Somerset supporter; but it probably would surprise them that he is an active socialist, on the editorial board of Labour Briefing, an American, and once clean bowled Bernie Grant! In the circumstances, therefore, you would expect comrade Marqusee to get a good write up in these pages.

Nepotism apart, Mike's book demonstrates a thorough knowledge of cricket as well as politics and life in India, gleaned through six months spent in that country. The cricketing people, as well as the local political characters, are utterly believable. Mike even has the courage to introduce a romantic sub-plot.

This is a book for cricket fans, those fascinated by the Asian sub-continent, and aficionados of political thrillers. But it is especially a book for socialist cricket fans.

Cricket was invented by the common people on the village green, appropriated by the bourgeoisie, and exported by British imperialism. It remains a bastion of privilege and rank, despite the intrusion of sordid capitalism in the 70s and 80s. This has led many socialists to dismiss the game as "ruling class" or "bourgeois".

But comrades who dismiss cricket are missing out on a lot. It is without doubt the most graceful and subtle of sports. Its greatest writer is a Marxist — CLR James. The great mass of its keenest fans are super-exploited workers — in India, the West Indies, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

It merely needs to be liberated from the hands of the rich and privileged. What we need is a socialist Cricket Liberation Front. I'm waiting for Mike to draft the Manifesto.

transcribed from the page image, 2 Nov 2026; no misspellings noted (the paper's Zia-al-Huq and I.T. Botham kept as printed). Book review of Mike Marqusee's Slow Turn, under the strap "Book review" on the Reviews page. The book details line at the head of the first column is kept as the first line. By-line "By Phil Hearse / Islington North CLP" in a ruled panel part-way down the second column. The bold opening runs over two paragraphs and is kept bold. Complete on the page, no jump. The other reviews on the page ("Communism reasserted" by Andrew Coates, "Learning Chernobyl's lessons — or not?" by Jon Grantham) and the James D. Young advert are by others and left out.