Empire Cricket Booklet

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INDIAN CRICKET IN I\JATAL

popular because it was less costly and took less time, important considerations for working-class Indians. Cricket emerged as the sport to occupy people when the football season ended. They initially played friendly matches but abandoned this experiment because of a lack of interest, caused largely by the movement of young Indians to the Transvaal in search of employment. Interest in cricket was revived when the touring English played South Africa in a series of matches from December 1891 to March 1892. Three clubs were formed in September 1892. Bluebells CC was formed at St Anthony's School with old boys M. Royeppen as captain, F. Lazarus as vice-captain, Anthony H. Peters as secretary and S. Joshua as treasurer. At Railway Barracks in Depot

Sport, yet in the interestof thecoming generations sport generally should be encouraged for all it is worth, and should have the same prominence as any other subject in the curriculum.34 Establishing the Game Cricket has deep roots in India. 35 From the 1870s, Bombay was the centre of Indian cricket, mainly through the Parsees who excelled at the game. From the 1890s, annual matches were played between Parsees and the English. Why Parsees? According to Benny Green, Lord Harris felt that cricket 'offered a short cut to the civilising of the locals, and had convinced himself that it was the Parsees, with their mercantile

Durban United Cricket Club c1903 Left to right, standing: A. R. Rajcoomar, C. Perumal Second row: V. N. Thumbadoo, Billy Subban Third row: M. B. Lazarus, A. D. Thompson, S. N. Richard, A. Montgomery, V. M. Nynah, S.Velloo In front: S. Ramtahal, Israel M. B. Lazarus, V.N. Thumbadoo and Billy Subban represented Natal in the Barnato tournament in Kimberley in 1913.

Road, residents formed the Union Jacks CC with J. C. Sankaran as president, M. Rangan as captain and T. Doorooghan as vice-captain. A. R. Rajcoomar was secretary and J. M. B. Mohanlal treasurer. Western Stars CC was formed at the home of James Christopher. M. Pakkianathan was elected president, S. E. Joshua captain, S. V. Billie vice-captain, and F. Benjamin secretary. This experiment died because

tendencies and European pretensions, who were the most likely converts to a cricketing way of life'. 36 They were joined by Hindus in 1907 and Muslims in 1912 in a quadrangular tournament. 37 Cricket was familiar to many Indian migrants in Natal. In Durban, they were playing football and cricket on grounds provided by the Durban town council (DTC) in the Botanical Gardens area by 1886. 38 Soccer was more