This is not the place to expound the rules of cricket, a thankless task as Michael Parkinson once found when his American listener asked: “And they do all this on horseback?” It’s far easier to explain why cricket has become such a national institution.
Test cricket may be thought of as the sport’s greatest height, but that only tells a partial story. As the cement that binds communities, village and club cricket is just as important, perhaps more so. Indeed with perfect wickets, finely honed technique and expensive equipment the test match is a world away from real cricket. Real cricket goes on at Harling where a bowler of left-arm mysterious catches the village butcher (batting with its doctor) on the boundary, overlooked by the beautiful church. It is a works match in Nottingham . A club game in Edenfield where a retired medium-pacer is dragged back for one more season.
But the Lord’s Test and the village game are twins, if not identical: their shared DNA includes (Australian readers look away now) an underlying desire for fair play; a place for grace as well as power; an appreciation of the opposition; and centuries of tradition behind every match.
There is another more contemporary context for cricket as an institution: it is one of the rare elements of our life that breaks barriers between the sometimes sadly separate cultures making up modern Britain: where those of Asian origin; or descendents of men who arrived on the Windrush; the baker and the candle-stick maker as well as the aforementioned butcher, mix with the squire and the vicar. And mysteriously they mix in pavilions which always smell exactly the same whether they be at an ancient public school, a Yorkshire village, or a municipal recreation ground, a sacred blend of tea, whitewash, polish and linement.
More British Institutions
Afternoon Tea
Allotments
April Fools Day
Big Ben
Binge Drinking
Black Cabs
Bonfire Night
British Sense of Humour
Brown Windsor Soup
Burns Night
Cadburys
Castles
Changing the Guard
City of London
Coronation Street
Cowes Week
Cricket
Crufts
Dad’s Army
E-Type Jag
Eccentricity
English Country Garden
Fish and Chips
Fish Fingers
Fox Hunting
Full English Breakfast
Gin and Tonic
Glastonbury
Glorious Goodwood
Grand National
Grouse Shooting
Harrods
Highland Games
Hogmanay
James Bond
John Bull
King Arthur
Land Rover
Lloyds of London
London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally
Marks and Spencer
Monty Python
Morecambe and Wise
Old School Tie
Oxbridge
Panto
Picnics
Pimms
Point-to-Point
Punch and Judy
Queueing
Real Ale
Red Arrows
Red Telephone Boxes
Remembrance Poppies
Robin Hood
Rolls Royce
Royal Ascot
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Savile Row Suits
School Discos
School Sports Day
Seaside Piers
Speakers’ Corner
Stag Nights
Stiff Upper Lip
Strawberries and Cream
Street Markets
Summer Festivals
Sunday Roasts
The Archers
The BBC
The Beano
The Boat Race
The Brass Band
The British Bobby
The Bulldog
The Church of England
The Cup Final
The Curry House
The English Rose
The Garden Shed
The Honours System
The Kilt
The Last Night at the Proms
The London Bus
The Mini
The National Trust
The NHS
The Oak
The Pub
The Queen’s Speech
The Rolling Stones
The Royal Christmas Message
The Spitfire
The V Sign
The Village Fete
The Weather
Travelling Fairs
Trooping the Colour
Village Greens
Wedgwood
Wellington Boots
Wimbledon
Wine Gums
Yeomen of the Guard
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