I grew up a Worcestershire supporter: regular visits to New Road, a ground so frequently flooded by the River Severn that we’d joke about players being savaged by fish. My first real education in anti-racism / anti-apartheid activism through the team’s longstanding membership by Basil D’Olivera (“…what do you mean he wasn’t allowed to play? But he’s awesome!”) and (later) Ian Botham swashbuckling away after his escape from Somerset.

It’s a deep and subtle global game invoking powerful emotion; I regret I lack the attention span for it nowadays, although I enjoy the occasional summer day of village cricket at the local club (founded: 1770) and just soaking in it.

And now, via Bluey — if you’re a parent, you will know — America may discover it. People are helping them understand the details, but the episode is exceptionally well done and very, very heavy on jokes/slang from the Australian cricket world. I’ve seen more than one joke that Americans will be fielding a cricket team in 12…15 years because of the episode. It’s not impossible, though I suspect there’s more likely to be a big boost to the US womens team as I feel American men in general are a little … conservative about sport.

If you know what Bluey is, get onto Disney+ and jump to the last episode of Season 3; if you don’t, watch the following episodes (mere suggestions) in rough sequence, before you do:

• Magic Xylophone (s1e1) – introduce the characters
• Fruitbat (s1e8) – family and sport
• Hammerbarn (s2e2) – male (australian & otherwise) dynamics
• Army (s2e16) – the other kids at school
• Helicopter (s2e25) – ditto

These are not (all) the best episodes, but they should give you enough context to follow the Cricket episode.

[*] Quote; see also the main article

South African cricket officials in 1968 realised that the inclusion of D’Oliveira in the England squad would lead to the cancellation of the tour, and probable exclusion of South Africa from Test cricket. This exerted pressure on the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) hierarchy leading to the decision not to pick him, which was felt by opponents of apartheid to be a way of keeping cricket links with South Africa open. There was dissent in the press to this course of events and when Warwickshire’s Tom Cartwright was ruled out because of injury, D’Oliveira was called up into the squad.[1] Prime Minister of South Africa B. J. Vorster had already made it clear that D’Oliveira’s inclusion was not acceptable, and despite many negotiations the tour was cancelled; South Africa was excluded from Test cricket for 22 years. This was seen as a watershed in the sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa.[14]

The D’Oliveira Affair had a massive impact in turning international opinion against the apartheid regime in South Africa. It prompted changes in South African sport and eventually in society. The events of 1968 were dramatized on BBC Radio 4 in April 2009 in a play by Christopher Douglas entitled Dolly.[15][16]”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_D%27Oliveira#The_D’Oliveira_Affair