Simon Lister
Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet
Firstly, this is a book written after the film was made using the material from the film maker and additional by the book author. It's a fascinating account of the West Indies cricket team from the start of the 1900s up until Viv Richards resigned the captaincy in the early 1990s. From that time the team changed from being white men only to being captained by black men. It's a story of perseverance in the context of a white cricketing establishment, both in the WI and elsewhere, making out that the WIndies were happy go lucky chancers without any real strategy and once having to accept that they could only be so dominant from the late 70s onwards by being strategic and extremely hard working they were then accused of playing dangerously due to their fast bowlers and delivery of bouncers. Whilst all this was within the rules of the game they were still lambasted for not playing cricket, so to speak. Of course all this was rubbish as the WIndies batsmen were all used to fast bowling as that's what made the cut in the West Indies islands.
Fire in Babylon: How the West Indies Cricket Team Brought a People to its Feet
Firstly, this is a book written after the film was made using the material from the film maker and additional by the book author. It's a fascinating account of the West Indies cricket team from the start of the 1900s up until Viv Richards resigned the captaincy in the early 1990s. From that time the team changed from being white men only to being captained by black men. It's a story of perseverance in the context of a white cricketing establishment, both in the WI and elsewhere, making out that the WIndies were happy go lucky chancers without any real strategy and once having to accept that they could only be so dominant from the late 70s onwards by being strategic and extremely hard working they were then accused of playing dangerously due to their fast bowlers and delivery of bouncers. Whilst all this was within the rules of the game they were still lambasted for not playing cricket, so to speak. Of course all this was rubbish as the WIndies batsmen were all used to fast bowling as that's what made the cut in the West Indies islands.
The book relates the rise of the WIndies dominance in the context of colonialism and the move of the West Indian islands from colonies to independent states. The friction between the various island countries is also documented as is the experience of West Indians emigrating to Britain and the racism that they encountered. The book suggests that the success of the WIndies did a lot to gain respect and confidence for those in the UK as well as those back in the Caribbean.
A very readable book with a good mix of sport, personal commitment and social commentary. And challenges. I saw the West Indies at the Oval in the late 80s and it was the most raucous day I've spent there with a very vocal West Indian crowd celebrating the last test of a winning series with Viv Richards being their adored captain. I'd seen Viv at my local cricket club Lansdown CC where I grew up and where Viv played before he started his magnificent career with Somerset and Ian Botham. He lodged for a while with my mate Jon Bees' family and my brother Duncan bowled against him when Viv came back for a charity match. Duncan didn't tell me how far he hit him but I know that at one point he was asked not to hit the ball so high as it kept clearing the high wire fence between the ground and the Royal United Hospital and they were concerned for their patients. Lansdown CC is now 200 years old and Viv Richards is perhaps it's most famous player... alongside W.G. Grace (and his brother E.M.) who played for them a century before Viv.
And just for Jon... a couple of mentions of his dad...
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