Could Cricket cure the World?

As religions battle against each other, autocracies against democracies and religiocracies against pretenses, one has to wonder if Cricket could cure the World. The only remaining sport for gentle men and women, it has risen beyond wealth and classes to assert the possibility of grand unification of white, black and brown. Such is the power of sport that it may have already united nearly half the world’s population.

It has a long history from South-East England in the sixteenth century. On September 26, 1844, a cricket team from Canada defeated the United States by 23 runs in what is generally considered the first international cricket match. It’s also the first international contest of any kind, having predated the America’s Cup by seven years (1). As has been conventional, everything starts in America.

As the world cup unfolds in India, and as the world sleeps and fights against each other, one has to wonder if cricket could cure the ills of the world. The joy is instantaneous, the sorrow ephemeral, and the ability to see beyond victory and defeat, universal. Here is a sport that the players almost root for the opposition, claps for the best plays, shake hands with those who performed, and generally be happy win or lose. Here is a game that goes beyond humanity.

Could cricket cure the World? Yes.

(1) The day Canada beat the US in the first cricket international (sportsofyore.com)