When cricket played its part in keeping war at bay

Grenada is a small island located in the Caribbean Sea, with a total area of less than 350 sq km. It is part of the group of countries that constitute the “West Indies”. And it is not surprising that, like many other islands in the region, cricket is the most popular sport here.

This nation also hosted six matches during the 2007 ICC World Cup. These games were held at the National Cricket Stadium located at St George's, the capital of Grenada. A recent article in a leading international affairs magazine stated that this stadium was built in China for $40 million by Anhui Foreign Economic Construction, a state-owned company. This stadium was further spruced up by China recently, at a cost of $12 million.

This immediately prompts the question, why China, a country where cricket is hardly played? The answer is as simple as it is surprising. This is part of the “cricket diplomacy” launched by China to court Grenada.

A couple of years before this largesse in the form of a stadium, the Grenadian Premier announced, in 2005, that they would be severing all relations with Taiwan. Thus, the amount spent on the stadium was a thinly disguised sop used by China to bring Grenada into line on a matter close to Beijing’s heart. 

There have been many examples of such sports diplomacy. The final of the 2023 ICC World Cup at Ahmedabad was watched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Robert Marles in the stadium.

Similarly, the semifinal of the 2011 ICC World Cup, played in Mohali between India and Pakistan, was watched by a sellout crowd that included Manmohan Singh, then Prime Minister of India, and Yousuf Raza Gilani, his counterpart from Pakistan. On that occasion, Indian players held their nerve to win a closely fought match by 29 runs.

The following final in Mumbai had Prathibha Patil, President of India, and her Sri Lankan counterpart, Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the chief guests. As is well known, India triumphed by 6 wickets to win the championship. 

It is not known whether any of the dignitaries named above took an active interest in the game or followed it with interest. But there have been politicians and leaders who took to cricket with great passion and followed the fortunes of their sides assiduously. John Major, who succeeded Margaret Thatcher as the UK Prime Minister, was a keen follower of the game. He was a talented cricketer in his youth as well, until an injury sustained in a plane crash made it impossible for him to pursue this passion.

After stepping down as Prime Minister, he was elected as President of Surrey, his cricket county, in 2000. In fact, he had ended his resignation speech as Prime Minister by saying that he was proceeding to Kensington Oval to catch some action there! 

Another former Prime Minister who took a fancy for cricket was Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan. He had played one first-class cricket match in his youth before turning his attention to business and politics. In 1987, when he was Chief Minister of Punjab, he showed the audacity to face the likes of Courtney Walsh and Patrick Patterson in a warm-up game prior to the 1987 World Cup, wearing only a Panama hat! Sharif decided to not only lead the Chief Minister’s XI but also open the innings for his side.

Though Imran Khan, who saw this match, was worried about the Chief Minister getting injured, Sharif managed to survive one ball before having his stumps rearranged off the next one!!

Bob Hawke, who was Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, also falls into this group of politicians who took a fascination for cricket. In 1984, Hawke was struck in the eye by a cricket ball while playing a game between parliamentarians and journalists. The ball delivered by Gary O’Neill, a journo, shattered Hawke's spectacles, and the shards of glass damaged the cornea. Prompt medical attention saved the eye, and Hawke returned to watch the match wearing an eye patch. He did not let this incident diminish his love for the game and never let go of an opportunity to don the cricketing gear and bat for some time. After he signed out of his career in politics, he could be spotted at the Sydney Cricket Ground on many an occasion, enjoying cricket with a mug of beer in hand. 

Incidentally, all these Premiers took part in a game in Harare in 1990, when they were all in the city for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). As one of those fortunate to witness this game wrote, “it was a unique, extraordinary and surreal experience”. It was Nawaz Sharif who had this “out of the box” idea of organising a cricket match for the leaders attending the summit, and he asked the Pakistan Ambassador to Zimbabwe to do the needful. This suggestion won support from Major, Hawke and Mammon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives and a “two-wicket match” with three overs a side was played amongst them. The game drew considerable attention from the press and was watched by, amongst others, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Begum Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh. 

Cricket has also been used as part of diplomacy. It is well known that the infamous “body line” series, where England bowlers aimed at the body of the Aussie batsmen, almost broke diplomatic relations between the UK and Australia. Though the bowlers who implemented this strategy were led by Harold Larwood, the person who faced public ire in Australia was England captain Douglas Jardine. Newspapers criticised the England team for unsportsmanlike conduct while players were greeted with boos and catcalls. The situation was so bad that angry cables were exchanged between the administrators of the two boards controlling the game in the two countries.

When England threatened to call off the tour, Australia's Prime Minister Joseph Lyons stepped in and brokered peace. He told the Australian Board that cancelling the series and suspending the tour could lead to imposition of trade sanctions against Aussie products in England, which, in turn, would bring severe misery to many sectors of the country’s economy. Following this, the Australian Board withdrew the allegation of unsportsmanlike conduct, though criticism in the media and hostility in the stadia continued.

In early 1987, India and Pakistan came to the brink of a war following the conduct of a massive exercise by the Indian army code-named “Operation Brasstacks”. The escalation of tension on the border cast a shadow over the successful conduct of the World Cup jointly by the two countries in late 1987. At this juncture, Gen. Zia Ul Haq, the military dictator of Pakistan, announced that he wanted to watch the Test match between the two countries at Jaipur. Thus, he almost “forced” an invitation from India and proceeded to Jaipur, where he went to the stadium and watched the proceedings during the third day of the match. 

Though the Indian government was not pleased with this PR exercise by Gen Zia, they had no option but to play along. With the benefit of hindsight, it merits admission that Zia’s visit helped reduce the stress lines along the borders and paved the way for the successful conduct of the World Cup.

However, the last word with regard to cricket diplomacy has to be the visit of a US President to witness proceedings in a cricket Test. Pakistan were playing Australia at Karachi in December 1959, when the first-ever visit of the President of the USA to South Asia took place. It is not known whether Dwight Eisenhower had asked his hosts to organise a visit to the ground where the game was played. However, he was at the stadium on 8 December, wearing the Pakistan team blazer, accompanied by Pakistan President Gen Ayub Khan, on the fourth day of the match.

Though the day produced extremely dull cricket, the likes of which was common at the time, with only 104 runs scored by the home side while they lost 5 wickets, the former Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe during World War II tried to take an active interest in the proceedings. One does not have any insight into how he felt about this game, which was not popular in his country, or about the sides that played, as his autobiography does not mention his experiences as a spectator on a cricket ground!