CRICKET & EMPIRE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1941, Page 6

CRICKET & EMPIRE

I "RANJI’S” STRIKING ANALOGY

ECHO OF LAST WAR. • SPEECH AT FAREWELL DINNER. I The following speech which the late Jam Sahib of Nawanagar (K. S. Ranjit- • sinhji delivered in replying to the toast ; of "Cricket’’ at a farewell dinner to the j 1930 Australian team, is reprinted m ’ "The Cricketer" annual (edited by Sir | Pelham Warner *, as being of special : significance at'the present moment. Drawing a striking analogy between the Empire and cricket. "Ranji" said:— "I am very much in doubt whether there is any other country m the world today, except Britain, in which a man not belonging to that country would have been selected to reply to the toast of the most characteristic national game.’’

In replying to the toast of "Cricket. I he felt he was replying to the toast ot I the ■’British Empire.’’ "The countries which together comj prise the British Empire," he continued, i ■■constitute the greatest cricket team i which the world has ever seen. Just as ‘ members of a cricket team differ from i each other in stature, in personal char- ! acteristics, in ability of one kind or 1 another, so the various components of ■ the British Empire differ widely among ! themselves. But. in the one case and in ‘ the other, it is not with a series of in- ! dividual units which we are concern* j ed. but with a great team working for i common good by bringing out the best I from each component member. "It is this spirit. I think, which has i brought the British Empire through so i many trials; certainly it is this spirit I which carried us successfully through { the greatest war which the world has > ever known. But, as it seems to me. warfare and stress are not the greatest trials to which either a cricket team or an empire such as ours can be subjected. ' The mark of a good team is the manner in which it lights a steady uphill battle; the mark of a great empire, as it seems to me, is the manner in which it can pull together with alTits resources in order to make good.

"These post-war years arc admittedly difficult. There are adjustments to be made in our Imperial team. Some of our players seem dissatisfied with their place in the team; there are some I whispers, although of the most irre- > sponsible kind, of resignation. It is oc- * casions such as this, far more than the i stress of a crisis, which test both the ■ skill in the captain and the loyalty of i the team.

Every cricketer knows how easy ;t is on certain occasions to allow himself to become discontented if he starts brooding over his own individual case. Every cricketer knows how strong is the temptation on occasion to criticise the policy of the captain, to blame him for not changing the bowling, and to criticise the placing of the field. "Yet it is precisely the kind of temptation which cricket leaches us to avoid at all costs. How often have I wished that al! the political leaders in all the countries of the Empire were cricketers? For if they had undergone the training and the discipline of the great game. I am sure they would find it easier than they appeal' to do at present to think first and last of the team.

I “1 am not a politician myself, and I lam well aware that if is an easy thing ’ io criticise the conduct of those whose ; difficulties one does not understand. ' But i cannot help thinking that all of ■ us in this great British Empire need i more of the spirit which cricket inculI cates: we need more team work, more i patience, and more unselfishness. To ' put the matter briefly, we need more of 1 the true spiri, of cricket. "For cricket is more than a game; it is reallj 1 a manner of living. I am sure it is one of the greatest contributions which the British people have made to the cause of humanity. It is certainly among the most powerful of the links which keep our Empire together. So long as we can maintain in that Empire the spirit of sportsmanship which cricket inculcates, so long shall we be ready, as a team, to meet and defeat any adversity which the future may hold for us. "If the bowling is difficult, let us present a straight bat with courage and with, determination. In the crisis of Ute Great War. Britain captained the Imperial team to a great victory; I am perfectly certain that in the more difficult times of peace we shall again win. through by wisdom, patience and goodwi I ’ The Princes of India, to whose order 1 have the honour to belong, have been I very old members of Great Britain’s; team, and both on easy and difficult; wickets they have tried their be-t to, play with a straight bat for the Em“ln times of peace, as in times of war \ you will always find us ready. We are united to you and with you in the bond of dvvoteil loyalty to the Kmg-Eirq>er-or. Throughout the period of adjustment of relations between Great Brit-; am and India, upon which we are now j cntei-mg, I am certain that the Indian: Prifteex will du their best ot play a part I worthy of their best traditions. "Like good cricketers .they eiuleav- i our to keep up their wickets even un-; dt-r the most difficult circumstances., You can rely upon to in tiie future, ns? you have relied m the past, to play the | game and to give every support in our’ power to tli<‘ harmony anti to '!’.<■ site-' <(" i f the Imperial team