There is a saying, 'what does he know who only Cricket know'. It is correct, to really understand the game one needs to know the history and the traditions as well as the spirit of the game. There are many things which are not prohibited by the rule book but are called 'it's not Cricket'....these are the unwritten rules of the game.
I am deviating from the topic. My passion for this game from early childhood has been a prime factor in me gaining some proficiency in the English language. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I learnt English because of my interest in Cricket.
I spent my childhood in Kanke, which is in the outskirts of Ranchi town (now in Jharkhand, India). This was a place which can be called semi-rural and far from the main town, Ranchi. Most of the kids I used to play with were from poor background. Some of them grew up to become Darzee (tailor) and Auto Rickshaw drivers !!
When I was 10 or 11 years old, and had started following the game, my father would buy 'The Sportstar' magazine for me. At this point of time, my understanding of English and vocabulary were very limited. But I just had to read everything that was there in those magazines on Cricket. I remember the cover of one of the editions of The Sportstar had this line 'The Drama Down Under'. For many days I wondered what was 'Down Under'. Since the story was about the Benson & Hedges tri-series in Australia, I guessed 'Down Under' must be Australia. And it made sense as it is located at the bottom of the Atlas!
In the 1983 India-Pakistan series, the headline was 'Imran Khan - India's tormentor'. Since Imran took 40 wickets in the series and was virtually unplayable, I figured out 'tormentor' must mean something close to a 'destroyer'.....I learnt the meaning of many 'big' English words this way.
I was exposed to similes and metaphors also through Cricket writings. Mudassar Nazar, the Pakistan opener infamous for slow scoring was described as 'he collects runs like a chipmunk collects nuts'!! I had no clue what a chipmunk was. I guessed it must be something like a squirrel !
When Kapil Dev was made the India captain in 1983, the sports headline read 'Captain's Cap for Kapil'. My father pointed out to me that this was a great example of an alliteration.....first time I heard of an alliteration.....
Since most of the Cricket books and magazines were in English, I was forced to read them. By the time I was 14 or 15 had read all of Sunil Gavaskar's books, 'Sunny Days', 'Idols', 'Runs & Ruins', 'One Day Wonders'. I had also read the autobiographies of Keith Miller, Imran Khan, Jeff Thomson and many others. I read from cover to cover 'Fifty years of West Indian Cricket' by Tony Cozier. I would devour any cricket magazine or book I could lay my hands on. Later on I also started reading the Hindi magazine 'Cricket Samrat'.
By this time I had not read many English novels or other classics but due to my reading on Cricket my English improved.
Cricket can also be credited for my knowledge of geography. Any self respecting follower of the game has to know where these places are - Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago (Port of Spain), Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Manchester, Leeds, London , Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth....the list goes on....Sitting in a remote corner of India, I would keenly follow the fortunes of the English counties Essex, Kent, Glamorgan, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Middlesex, Sometset, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire.....again a long list....I now live in Kent and was living in Essex before this. But long long before I visited these places, I knew them only because of Cricket. For me Essex meant Graham Gooch , Somerset - Ian Botham and Viv Richards, Sussex - Imran Khan, Yorkshire - Geoff Boycott, Hampshire - Gordon Greenidge, Lancashire - Wasim Akram.....and so on......
Also came to know through cricket that the Aussies are called 'Kangaroos' , the New Zealanders 'Kiwis' , the South Africans 'Springboks'.....
Apart from the joy of following this game of glorious uncertainties, I have many other reasons to be indebted to this game.
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Thoughts on the blog from my cousin Dr Ashir Husain -
Very well written and interesting points brought much similar to my thoughts and days of learning.
Since I was couple of years older,belonged to the same era and Ranchi my town as well where I was learning literature in school and cricket everywhere be it school,HEC where I lived,kanke where I occasionally visited was very much part of our lives.
Richie Benaud on Australian radio,Martin Jenkins,Blofeld on English radio learning the nuances of cricket and english words as you have mentioned in your blog.
I remember I read somewhere in one of the dailies in the sports column about a cricketer 'hanging his boots'.I ran up to one of my uncles to understand what the meaning was and was happy and smiling inside that I knew something not others may have known.
Similarly as you have recounted about the numerous places,Derbyshire was a county in England I knew only because of Azharuddin.
Cricket surely has taught us a lot and I realised it after reading your blog that it was always a part of our learning process.
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