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PETER OBORNE, Wounded Tiger. A History of Cricket in Pakistan. London: Simon & Schuster, 2015. XXX, 592 pages, £12.99. ISBN 978-184983-248-9 (pb) (Originally published in hardcover in 2014.)
This monograph provides a comprehensive survey of Pakistani cricket from the founding of the country in 1947 right up to the present day, with digressions where necessary to trace developments in earlier periods. Along the way much is learned about the political, social, and even economic history of the republic. Cricket is now Pakistan's national sport (pp. 398-9); by coincidence, the white clothing and green field match the colours of the republic's flag. "Cricket is the game of the village, it is the game of the towns. It is the game of the old, it is the game of the young, the rich and the poor. It is played in the plains of Sindh and in the mountains of the north. It is played by the army and the Taliban. It is enjoyed by all Pakistan's sects and religions" (p. 509).
Yet cricket is far more than a game: it is inextricably linked with considerations of power, religion, national identity and historical revenge. The cricket world sometimes seems to have a rather unpleasant sub-text that has little or nothing to do with mere sport. It provides a platform for triumphalism, bitterness, petulance, jealousy, affronted amour-propre and endless internecine disputes between players and administrators, both domestically and internationally. The search for any sign of sportsmanship in Test cricket is long and hard (p. 86, 265). Joie de vivre is conspicuous by its absence.
Pakistan cricket was born out...