‘Britishers Anxious to Appear on the Cricket Map’: Anglo-New Zealand Cricket in the Imperial Context 1927–58

Abstract

In considering the ways in which New Zealand's mediocre performance on the international cricket stage was interpreted, this article provides a significant critique of the emphasis on a nexus between rugby and emergent nationalism that has dominated New Zealand historiography. After consideration of New Zealand's enduring ties to Britain and cleavage in formal relations with Australia, cricketing and otherwise, during the inter-war period, this article examines expectations for and reactions to New Zealand's cricketing contacts with England during the period of its first five tours ‘home' 1927–58. Here the supposedly pervasive rhetoric in which sporting success is equated to national success is countered by one emphasising deferential loyalty to the British Empire and amateur sporting idealism. At the same time, the sometimes patronising response from English critics made much of the significant differences between humble New Zealand cricketers and their more aggressive Australian counterparts.