A WALK IN THE WOODS - University at Buffalo

From Jersey Boy to Cricket Expert:A Chat with UB Prof Patrick McDevittPatrick McDevitt, associate professor of history, teaches acourse on the history of sport, and authored the book “Maythe Best Man Win: Sport, Masculinity, and Nationalism inGreat Britain and the Empire, 1880-1935” that features twochapters on cricket. He also contributed a book chapter in“The Cambridge Companion to Cricket.” McDevitt servesas the faculty adviser for the UB Cricket Club Association.How long have you been a fan of cricket?“For imperial Britain,cricket was more thanjust a game; it was acode of conduct andthe expression of aBritish and imperialsense of right andwrong.”Excerpt from “The CambridgeCompanion to Cricket”—Patrick McDevittI first learned the nuances ofcricket when I moved to NewZealand as a graduate student in1993. A lifelong baseball fan, it wasan easy transition to make for me.While obviously different games,the two sports share many traits(pace of play, basic movements andobjectives, a fascination of statistics,etc.). I think many Americansare intimidated by cricket, whichin some varieties can last for fivedays. The game that is most oftenplayed is called Twenty20 andtakes the same length of time as abaseball game.Is there a quick and dirty way ofunderstanding the game?The best way for an American to beintroduced to the game is to haveit explained by someone who grewup playing baseball. The translation process runs moresmoothly that way.Do you play cricket?I do not play cricket well, although I have certainly playedenough of the driveway and backyard variety over the years.I wouldn’t have the skills to play with the UB Cricket Team.Have you been able to convert any Americans intobecoming fans?I have only passed along my love of cricket to one baseballlovingAmerican, and that is Professor Kristin Stapleton ofthe history department when we were delayed in the NewDelhi airport for six or seven hours and it was on TV.For those of us who are unfamiliar with the game, canyou talk about the meaning of the saying “It’s not justcricket”? Do you use that saying at all?While I wouldn’t use “not cricket” in my vocabulary verymuch—I’m just a guy from New Jersey after all—Englishspeakingpeople from around the former British Empirecertainly would. The common usage of the phrase thatsomething was “not cricket” meant simply and succinctlythat it was not morally right.Why do you think cricket hasn’t caught on in a big way inthe U.S.?Cricket didn’t originally catch on in the U.S. because theorganizers of cricket highlighted its exclusivity and its Anglophilia,while baseball’s early promoters sought a wideraudience and promoted its “Americanness.” The game isgaining popularity in the States. The New York City PublicSchools now have a cricket championship with more teamsbeing added every year. Increasingly, native-born Americans,not just West Indian and South Asian students, areplaying too.Lost in translation: Even for fans of the game, cricket terminology is constantly changing. In this cartoon featured inPunch magazine from 1920, communication woes between generations of fans were just as common as today.hit the balltop of the bat near the handle (an area of little power)YOUNG CRICKETER “Yes, I cocked one off the splice in thegully and the blighter gathered it.”fielding positionslightly behindthe off-side of thethe batter‘newish’ slang for a detestable person (possiblyunfamiliar to an older man in 1920)FATHER “Yes, but how did you get out? Wereyou caught, stumped or bowled, or what?”all ways to be caught out—on the fly, stumps knockedover by hand or stumps knocked over by the bowler30 UBTODAY Spring 2013 www.buffalo.edu/UBT