CRICKET IN COLONIAL INDIA AS DESCRIBED BY TRAVELLERS

[F. Bernard O'Shea, A Winter Tour in India and Ceylon with a Kathiawar Prince (Bombay: India Times, 1890), 143-145] AT Lahore so different does everything seem from life in the
lower provinces that the traveller feels he has reached the upper corner of India, but before him lies a railway journey of a full twenty-four hours to the frontier station of Peshawur and twenty four miles by road to the Khyber Pass. Leaving Lahore by the mail train at a quarter past six in the morning, we arrived at Peshawur the following morning at about the same hour. From Lahore we passed through fertile plains covered with winter crops. At Gujerat, the scene of the great battle, the town was apparently holding high festival. Crowds of people in their " Sunday best " were wandering about, while on a a- meadow skirting the railway line, in an enclosure, marked by gaily coloured flags, a battle of a very different kind was being fought, probably by the descendants of some of the heroes of "Gujerat." Two "Elevens" of the youth of the town were engaged in a very serious cricket

match, England's national game, and were surrounded by admiring spectators. No gate-money, dear reader; these things are free in our sunny land of Ind. Apropos of cricket, we saw the game played in the' Punjab by Punjabis, in all its phases, from the small boy's rudimentary cricket to the grown-up game of two elevens.

[A. C. Newcombe, Village, Town, and Jungle Life in India (Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1905)] English eleven and the Parsees were always worth seeing. The Parsees sometimes won against some of the best English teams ; but it must be noted that Englishmen in India, owing to the climate and their having little time or inclination for practice, do not retain their real cricket form. In the same way, of course, the Parsees when they came to England lost their cricketing power to some extent. The Parsee community and the natives generally took keen interest in the matches, and were very anxious for the success of their own countrymen. It was not pleasing to note a want of generous and sportsmanlike feeling amongst them, for every hit made by a Parsee player, though it did not earn a run, was cheered; but even the best hits and first-class bits of play of the Englishmen were watched by the crowd in dead silence. [Edward F. Elwin, Indian Jottings from Ten Years Experience in and around Poona City (London: Murray, 1907), 143-145] The captain of the Furguson College Cricket Club being amongst the students staying at Yerandawana, it was suggested that he should get up a team from among the temporary settlers, and that we should challenge the Poona City Mission for a cricket match on our Mission field. As contact with Christians in a friendly match might be productive of good, the challenge was given and accepted. Our nearest Hindu neighbour in the village, Harirao by name, who owns large mango groves, and is the richest man in the place, was enthusiastic about the match, and said that he would entertain both teams to lunch. He is a very unorthodox Hindu, and has more courage than some in giving practical expression to his modern ideas. His original purpose was to entertain both the Christian and

Hindu teams in one house, though sitting apart. But, as is often the cam with men who hold modern ideas and would like to cast off the yoke of Hindu traditions, the women of his household were too 'much for him, and they would not hear of the arrangement. Therefore, although the meal was identical for both teams, we sat down in separate houses. It was a very refined Indian repast, cooked with much delicacy and skill. It is impossible to describe its details, because all the items were peculiar to India, and have no counterpart in a Western bill of fare. This hospitable Hindu gave us tea in the afternoon on the cricket-ground. But as some Brahmin players and visitors a h partook of it, rather elaborate precautions had to be taken to see that the tea met with no unhallowed combat. Harirao asked us rather shyly if we would mind providing our own cups, and care had to be taken that the receptacle which held the tea did not in any way touch the cup. I was also given a chair a yard or two apart from the Hindus. But to drink tea together at all was an immense advance on what would have been possible a few years back. The match was fortunately quite a success, and did much to promote general good feeling. There was a large attendance of both Christians and Hindus, and I think it was a surprise to some of the latter, not only to see so many Christians at one time, but to find that many of them were not otherwise than distinguished-looking people. The Hindus had gathered a strong tam, and gained a, decisive victory, which was just as well, but the Christian team was able to give a sufficiently good account of itself to make the match interesting. It is a happy thing that cricket has taken a, real hold in India, and it is played enthusiastically by many. Lord Harris, when he was Governor of Bombay, did much to make the game popular, and, by playing energetically himself, taught the people that cricket is not a childish game, or one meant only for the vulgar crowd. There are still, however, large numbers of Indian students who affect to despise the game, and prefer to wander about idly instead; or who study so furiously night and day, cramming for examinations, that they early become mental and physical wrecks.