A erudite, wonderful, I'm tempted to say a sprawling piece (although that is true of many Substack posts) that presents the demise and stoicism of test cricket as the continuation of the contractions of colonialism, late nineteenth century conservatism as it meets the gross spectacle of contemporary culture, friction free capitalism the IPL and the idiocy of the Hundred (who the fuck thought that was a good idea even within short form cricket?!). Isn't the anachronism of test cricket the symptom of a legacy form that is unable to give up its charm, as a nostalgia that gives a sense of a noble past - like collecting vinyl, or vintage cloths, a repackaging of what is in demise, notwithstanding the brilliant England-India series, a singularity of a form that is continually that is barely resisting its own postmodern packaging and commodification. I love test cricket, but I hate to say it, and it might be a form of contemporary Orientalism, as the centre of gravity moves east to Modiland, the game, as you say is caught up in a fervent nationalism (wasn't it always?) and Bollywoodisation of the cultural economy, test cricket is slowly losing its splendid ritualism - like the cultural anachronism of the Japanese tea ceremony. I admit this is an obvious thing to say, but my melancholic pessimism is of an old man that lived through the glory days of the West Indies in the 70s anti-colonialism. The demise of cricket there is a telling sign. The emergence of Afghanistan cricket is a great story of cultural resistance against the barbarity of the Taliban, but a minor scene of the entanglement of cricket and global empire. As it always was. I'm not sure as the world heads to apocalyptic self destruction with genocidal war as horror entertainment, and the slow death of the planet test cricket is like the scene in Carry Up the Khyber where as the Afghan forces are invading the black tie dinner party continues. We are screwed, Test cricket is an imagined bunker, like a hospital in Gaza, waiting to be bombed into oblivion. (If only the Zionists played test cricket). As usual south London maybe the only place Test Cricket will survive, where the banal everyday culture, indifferent to the world, is an irrelevant invisibility that resists the charms of postmodern AI glitter. Loved the post.
But the seeming archaic nature of it was actually part of the game itself from inception. It was always a harking back to an arcadian English village in the context of industrialisation. So you cant really say its gone; it was always gone. My point here is more that it reflects the mood of the country, or some facets of it. One cannot blame cricket for this, its just a vessel for structural and discursive modalities. The aesthetic intricacy is what cuts through though, and only test cricket can really offer that up. There is something also to be said about the radio, test match special, the innate literary erudition of a particular enculturated English which sees no parallel across the continent. The afghan example is also part of Indian soft power, Zimbabwe and their coming back to the test arena should generate just as much interest. But there is a discrepancy there between the conjunctural and the longer duree which cultural mediums provide. Understanding the game on its own terms. From there we can get to deeper truths I reckon, rather than chasing the present.
It’s a fantastic article and a brilliant and revealing use of some very relevant sources. The death of test cricket as a permanent condition is an idea I love, reminds me of critiques of certain contemporary leftist philosophers and their ‘melancholic’ disposition. And it resonates with the fear gripping white Britain very well.
exactly, I am also trying to think about how there might genuinely be ways to reconceive of "white" britain through its traditionalist modes. It seems increasingly clear that anti-racist, multicultural politics has been subsumed into state and market forces and grotesquely morphed in that process. The fact that BJP forces are re-harnessing anticolonial rhetoric is another facet of that too. In any case, test cricket ambles along
A erudite, wonderful, I'm tempted to say a sprawling piece (although that is true of many Substack posts) that presents the demise and stoicism of test cricket as the continuation of the contractions of colonialism, late nineteenth century conservatism as it meets the gross spectacle of contemporary culture, friction free capitalism the IPL and the idiocy of the Hundred (who the fuck thought that was a good idea even within short form cricket?!). Isn't the anachronism of test cricket the symptom of a legacy form that is unable to give up its charm, as a nostalgia that gives a sense of a noble past - like collecting vinyl, or vintage cloths, a repackaging of what is in demise, notwithstanding the brilliant England-India series, a singularity of a form that is continually that is barely resisting its own postmodern packaging and commodification. I love test cricket, but I hate to say it, and it might be a form of contemporary Orientalism, as the centre of gravity moves east to Modiland, the game, as you say is caught up in a fervent nationalism (wasn't it always?) and Bollywoodisation of the cultural economy, test cricket is slowly losing its splendid ritualism - like the cultural anachronism of the Japanese tea ceremony. I admit this is an obvious thing to say, but my melancholic pessimism is of an old man that lived through the glory days of the West Indies in the 70s anti-colonialism. The demise of cricket there is a telling sign. The emergence of Afghanistan cricket is a great story of cultural resistance against the barbarity of the Taliban, but a minor scene of the entanglement of cricket and global empire. As it always was. I'm not sure as the world heads to apocalyptic self destruction with genocidal war as horror entertainment, and the slow death of the planet test cricket is like the scene in Carry Up the Khyber where as the Afghan forces are invading the black tie dinner party continues. We are screwed, Test cricket is an imagined bunker, like a hospital in Gaza, waiting to be bombed into oblivion. (If only the Zionists played test cricket). As usual south London maybe the only place Test Cricket will survive, where the banal everyday culture, indifferent to the world, is an irrelevant invisibility that resists the charms of postmodern AI glitter. Loved the post.
But the seeming archaic nature of it was actually part of the game itself from inception. It was always a harking back to an arcadian English village in the context of industrialisation. So you cant really say its gone; it was always gone. My point here is more that it reflects the mood of the country, or some facets of it. One cannot blame cricket for this, its just a vessel for structural and discursive modalities. The aesthetic intricacy is what cuts through though, and only test cricket can really offer that up. There is something also to be said about the radio, test match special, the innate literary erudition of a particular enculturated English which sees no parallel across the continent. The afghan example is also part of Indian soft power, Zimbabwe and their coming back to the test arena should generate just as much interest. But there is a discrepancy there between the conjunctural and the longer duree which cultural mediums provide. Understanding the game on its own terms. From there we can get to deeper truths I reckon, rather than chasing the present.
*genteel?
yep, though one shouldnt edit retrospectively, and I dont have the time to properly proofread in the first instance.
It’s a fantastic article and a brilliant and revealing use of some very relevant sources. The death of test cricket as a permanent condition is an idea I love, reminds me of critiques of certain contemporary leftist philosophers and their ‘melancholic’ disposition. And it resonates with the fear gripping white Britain very well.
exactly, I am also trying to think about how there might genuinely be ways to reconceive of "white" britain through its traditionalist modes. It seems increasingly clear that anti-racist, multicultural politics has been subsumed into state and market forces and grotesquely morphed in that process. The fact that BJP forces are re-harnessing anticolonial rhetoric is another facet of that too. In any case, test cricket ambles along
Brilliant stuff, Kashif.
Thanks Sam 🙏🏽🫡