International Cricket Council Research Articles

World Cricket as a Postcolonial International Society: IR Meets the History of Sport

This article brings together the English School literature, postcolonial approaches to culture, the historical sociology of sport, and IR's own tentative engagement with sport to argue that world cricket constitutes a sui generis postcolonial international society in the sporting sector. The international society tradition within IR has been criticised for its failure to take sufficient note of the history of imperialism, and contributions from postcolonial scholarship can provide a necessary corrective here. However, the adoption of cricket in colonial societies involved a complex mixture of acceptance of and resistance to elements of British imperial culture, as has been documented in the work of some historical sociologists of sport and of philosophers of cricket such as C.L.R. James and Ashis Nandy. Contemporary world cricket is an arena in which the former imperial centre and a number of postcolonial states compete with each other within a framework of quasi-legal provisions (the Laws of Cricket), associated normative expectations (“The Spirit of Cricket”), and an international/transnational sporting organisation (the International Cricket Council). The concept of a geographically (but not regionally) limited, historically specific, and sectoral international society therefore still has some purchase here. This sphere is currently being shaped not by a clash between imperial values and postcolonial resistance, but by tension between the routinisation of international cricket and a shift of wealth and power within the game towards India. World cricket can be characterised as a sphere of non-violent sporting competition which may, perhaps, function as a source of international civility in relations between regions of the world influenced by British imperialism.

Power and Interests at the International Criminal Court

U.S. policy toward the International Criminal Court is disconnected from the central politics of the Court and focused on a mostly irrelevant sideshow. The Court’s fundamental political problem is its need for money and security forces to arrest suspects and try them. This feature makes the Court more subject to the control of powerful states than most have realized. Even if the United States cooperated with the Court, however, arrests and prisoners would likely be few and far between. Instead, the United States should work with the Court to refocus its efforts on capacity building in weakly democratic states. I f Google results can be used as a measure of importance, the United States has little to fear from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Type “ICC” into Google and the Court places a distant 11 th in Internet relevance, behind entities such as the International Cricket Council, the Internet Chess Club, and Illinois Central College. 1 In terms of influence over people’s lives, that ranking seems about right. The creation of the ICC stirred a tempest in U.S. policy and U.S. relations with other states. Yet the storm has blown over without much altering the landscape. Both proponents and opponents have oversold the importance of the Court. It may yet prove worthy of its hype, but the Court’s basic problem is that it lacks prisoners and has little means of getting them. The most direct way for the United States to influence the Court is to cooperate (or not) with Court requests to arrest suspects or to provide other assistance essential to any investigation and trial. In contrast, U.S. policy has focused on punishing mostly small states for working with the Court, an unfortunate sideshow that might reap some small benefits for the United States but also incurs significant costs and ultimately has little effect on the ICC. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and court supporters have been attracted by the same sideshow of influencing small- and medium-sized states around the world by encouraging them to ratify the Court’s statute, to implement the necessary domestic legislation, and to resist U.S. pressure to undermine the Court. To an extent, their instincts are correct. The more states that support the Court, the greater the Court’s legitimacy. Legitimacy, however, is necessary but insufficient for the functioning of the Court. Legitimacy will not bring suspects to the Court’s cells and trial chambers and Darren Hawkins is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University. He has published Delegation and Agency in International Organizations with Cambridge University Press, and articles on international human rights issues in International Studies Quarterly and Journal of Politics, among others.

World Cup? What World Cup?

Guyanan-born Academic Mair reports from the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean, with observations on the sportswriters – “Fans with laptops” and the disappointments of what should have been a wonderful cricket carnival: “…in the home of loud and lively cricket…the previous [Guyanan] Test ground – the Bourda in Georgetown – had been a cauldron for every match. Not so in Providence – the International Cricket Council had rigidly imposed a “one size fits all” policy on the nine West Indies countries hosting the World Cup. Stadiums were built very alike and the ticket prices were alike too – very, very high. Crowd spontaneity was restricted by the banning of bands and musical instruments from the grounds. The result at most matches was, at best, torpor. It was difficult for the press corps to detect the lack of atmosphere, isolated in the press box bubbles as they were.” He continues: “The inward-looking nature of the cricket media corps is even further reinforced by the old pros in their ranks. Retired cricketers do not die; they simply become commentators or writers.”

Laboratory versus field testing in cricket bowling: A review of current and past practice in modelling techniques

In cricket bowling, the reconstruction of elbow angle data is of utmost importance to the bowling versus throwing argument. This paper reviews system and modelling errors inherent in three-dimensional reconstruction processes with respect to the elbow extension tolerance set by the International Cricket Council. An understanding of these factors will enable more informed decisions about the choice of in-field versus laboratory testing in the calculation of elbow extension during bowling in cricket. Although there is a paucity of objective data related to in-field and laboratory testing, biomechanists must be guided by the greater accuracy of opto-reflective than video-based systems and so testing, at least for the present, should be conducted in a laboratory setting.

The relationship between shoulder alignment and elbow joint angle in cricket fast-medium bowlers

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between shoulder alignment and elbow angle during the delivery action of fast-medium bowlers. The elbow and upper trunk alignment were recorded for 13 high-performance bowlers (mean age 20 years) using a 12-camera Vicon motion analysis system operating at 250 Hz. The three highest velocity trials for “good” and “short” length deliveries were analysed. Results showed that bowlers with a more front-on shoulder alignment at back-foot impact and when the upper arm was horizontal to the ground experienced a significantly greater elbow flexion – extension range when compared with those who had a more side-on orientation at the same point in the delivery action. Bowlers with greater shoulder counter-rotation also recorded higher elbow flexion and subsequently extension during the period from upper arm horizontal to ball release. Shoulder alignment and elbow angles were similar for “short” and “good” length deliveries. It was concluded that bowlers with a more front-on shoulder orientation at back-foot impact demonstrated a higher elbow extension from upper arm horizontal to ball release and are therefore more likely to infringe International Cricket Council elbow tolerance levels, compared with those who adopt a more side-on shoulder orientation at back-foot impact.

Sport in Namibia

In 2003 Namibia reached the final stages of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in South Africa, and the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Cup in Australia - a remarkable achievement for a country with a population of only 1.9 million people. This study addresses the current socio-political situation in Namibia, Africa in relation to the organization of sport. The article is based on two research visits to Namibia in which interviews were conducted with key providers of sport in Namibia. The results show that Namibia has made great strides in the administration and organization of sport since independence in 1990, and give a sense of the struggles and barriers involved in sport development in a newly independent developing nation.

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Technical Note - Legality of bowling actions in cricket

An ergonomic methodology has been designed and developed to evaluate the legality of bowling actions in cricket. This paper describes the methodology and a case study related to an international cricket player with an unorthodox bowling action. Objective measurements were used to evaluate the action. An electrogoniometer and a force-sensing resistor (FSR) were used for this purpose. The electrogoniometer measured the elbow angles in the sagittal plane, while the FSR indicated the instant of ball release to assess the presence of any elbow ‘straightening’ directly preceding delivery. The FSR was attached to a finger depending on the type of ball delivered. Angles and forces were sampled at 500 Hz and stored in a data logger. The information collected was downloaded on to a computer for further analyses. The angle information preceding ball release is a clear indicator of arm ‘straightening’ during bowling. The methodology has high reliability and accuracy in the evaluation of the legitimacy of bowling actions as defined by the International Cricket Council laws.