Bringing together leading international writers on cricket and society, this important new book places cricket in the postcolonial life of the major Test-playing countries. Exploring the culture, politics, governance and economics of cricket in the twenty-first century, this book dispels the age-old idea of a gentle game played on England's village greens. This is an original political and historical study of the game's development in a range of countries and covers: - cricket in the new Commonwealth: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Caribbean and India - the cricket cultures of Australia, New Zealand and post-apartheid South Africa - cricket in England since the 1950s. This new book is ideal for students of sport, politics, history and postcolonialism as it provides stimulating and comprehensive discussions of the major issues including race, migration, gobalization, neoliberal economics, the media, religion and sectarianism. Stephen Wagg is Reader in Sport and Society at Roehampton University, UK. He has written widely on the politics of sport, of the media, of comedy and of childhood.