They Gave The Crowd Plenty Fun: West Indian Cricket and its Relationship with the British-Resident Caribbean Diaspora

In 1950, the West Indies cricket team beat England for the first time on English soil. West Indian cricket continued to provide a source of self-esteem for West Indians and their descendants in Britain. Whether they were passionate cricket fans or not, cricket offered some of the growing diaspora an opportunity to express a collective sense of Caribbean identity. Colin Babb reflects on events which influenced the social impact of cricket on British-resident Caribbean communities from the beginning of mass Caribbean migration to Britain after the Second World War.