By: Niveja Assalaarachchi, News Writer

I know what you’re thinking: “Don’t you gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket?” For most people at SFU, and in Canada, cricket is seen as an odd sport, often associated with British colonialism. 

Cricket is the world’s second-largest sport, with a majority of the fanbase being situated in South Asia but also in places like the Caribbean, Australia, South Africa, and Aotearoa (colonially known as New Zealand). The story of the global phenomenon known as cricket and its development here in Canada and SFU is a tale of changing trends. It shows how different countries and populations can interpret colonial concepts differently. 

Cricket is a complicated sport and one that many Canadians are not familiar with. Though the game still suffers from the legacies of colonialism, through community, it has grown from a sport that was meant to highlight racial superiority into one that can unite people across different countries and continents. Canada’s growing interest in the sport is proof of how widespread it can be. 

Cricket is said to have originated in the 17th century in England. Britain expanded the game throughout its colonial empire, including here in Canada. Its complicated rules (known as laws in cricket) sought to match the rigid social hierarchy seen in Victorian Britain. In the context of the sport, the best way this could possibly be seen is the fact the umpires decide who gets out and have deferential authority over decisions. Critiquing an umpire’s decision is seen as a major taboo. The game was thus thrust on the colonized as a way to supposedly “civilize” them through entrenching English values. In many ways, cricket was a symbol of white superiority and English cultural imposition.

Ironically, it was also seen as “too complicated” for any non-English person to comprehend so there was a dichotomy in the way the game could be interpreted. In many of Britain’s colonies, this crude imposition was turned around on the British. Many rulers in the Indian subcontinent embraced the game as a way to get closer to the British and that led to mass adoption of the game. Why wouldn’t they? Those across the colonies saw it as a way to beat the British at their own game despite suffering colonial abuse. Today, this has led to the game’s most prolific run scorer and wicket taker to not be from England, but instead from India and Sri Lanka, respectively. Due to this influence, cricket is no longer the game of the British. Ashis Nandy, who’s an Indian psychologist, once said, “Cricket is an Indian game accidentally invented by the English.” 

In Canada, the story of cricket and why it did not get popular is often explained away by the weather and proximity to the United States. The truth is more complicated. Vancouver in particular has had a rich cricketing history. Brockton Oval, located in Stanley Park, which has continuously been used for cricket since the 1890s, was described by the Australian cricketer Don Bradman (often described as the greatest batsman of all time) as “the prettiest ground in the world.” Even though the game began to fall off in the 1950s, universities like UBC had a varsity cricket team into the ’70s. SFU’s own cricket club has been active since nearly the start of the university. In the 1980s and 1990s, SFU cricket club competed in the British Columbia Mainland Cricket League, the province’s premier cricket tournament with two teams. Today, SFU still has a cricket club that hosts weekly meetings and runs cricket tournaments. 

With Canada opening up immigration in the latter half of the 20th century, many people from cricket’s major playing regions came to this country and started playing the sport as a way to connect to home. 

This has led on the national stage to Canada qualifying for various international tournaments and performed above expectations. In 2003, the Canadians caused an upset when they defeated Bangladesh — a more established side, by 60 runs. In the recently concluded T20 World Cup, Canadian Yuvaraj Samra managed to score a 110 runs against Aotearoa in a thrilling match.

All of this to say, humans have the ability to alter the image of different sports if they want to. Cricket’s colonial past is undoubtedly harmful, but people have subverted the objective of the colonial machine.

So go out, go pick up a cricket bat or head down to SFU’s cricket club to learn the sport because it is fun and entertaining!