Oborne and Heller trace the origins of cricket as a commercial entertainment through its evolution to a form of moral improvement and tool of empire, and argue that cricket today – dominated by the Indian Premier League’s wealth and scale – has come full circle. From Australia to the Caribbean to Afghanistan, they explore the way cricket developed across the globe, examining its role in colonialism, education and politics; where it flourished and where it failed to take root. 

In its earliest forms in the 18th century, cricket was a commercial entertainment, a vehicle for gambling alongside cock-fighting or wrestling. In the Victorian era, the sport was rejuvenated as a means of keeping order in England’s public schools and increasingly became linked with ideas of virtue and manliness. Exported by empire loyalists abroad, cricket took root across the globe – wildly successfully in some countries, indelibly linked with racism and violence in others, and failing to thrive in certain regions. At all times, the authors argue, cricket either evolves or dies. Today, the monetisation of cricket suggests it has returned to its original purpose – less a sport or self-mythologising value system than a commercial enterprise to be ruthlessly exploited.