HAND-IN-HAND HISTORY OF CRICKET IN GUYANA, 1865-1897 Vol 1, The Foundation

Product no.: HP191

Clem Seecharan

This is the first volume of a major study of the social history of cricket in Guyana from 1865 to 1966, when the country became independent. It is a legacy project to mark the 150th anniversary of one of the great institutions in the region, the Hand-in-Hand Fire Insurance Company. The year 2015 is also the 150th anniversary of first-class cricket in the West Indies: Barbados v British Guiana in February 1865.

This volume pursues the gradual evolution of the game from 1865 to the late 1890s, in the context of the colony’s ethnic and social diversity. It explores the origin of the Guyanese-Barbadian rivalry which enriched West Indies cricket for more than a century, and the emergence of the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) and its famous Bourda Ground in 1858 and 1885 respectively. It encompasses the GCC’s seminal role in inter-colonial cricket; its instrumentality in the first West Indies tour overseas, to North America in 1886; and its hosting of two English teams in the 1890s, notably Lord Hawke’s in 1897. The latter was a watershed for black cricketers. Yet the GCC was enmeshed in the race and class prejudices of the age, and (unlike Trinidad) tardy in engaging with or selecting non-white cricketers in the colony’s team. Consequently, the game’s potential was stifled, although non-whites throughout British Guiana took to cricket with passion, celebrating it as a vindication of their credentials as creoles – authentic English colonials.

“… a unique scholarly study”  Mike Atherton

“A work of scholarship that, in the manner of his mentor, C.L.R. James, goes deftly beyond the boundary crafting a superb portrait of Guyana in the late 19th century.”   Mike Brearley

  • 228 x 152 mm
  • 488 pages
  • Paperback

In stock

£16.99


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