Street cricket comes to London

Hundreds of street parties are planned in London and thousands across Britain to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee in June. I had my first taste of street party in London last year, when the country burst into celebration to welcome the wedding of William Windsor and Kate Middleton.

Britons sang and danced on the streets to welcome their future heir to the throne. There were abundance of food and drinks and an air of optimism amidst the gloomy economic and social outlook, haunting Britain over the past few years. I didn't notice any such party in 2002 when Britain celebrated 50 years of the Queen's accession to the throne.

As I was passing by a notice put up by St. Stephen's Road Residents' Association inviting people to the street party on 4 June 2011, one thing that struck my mind was: There are street parties in London but no street cricket.

I have never seen children and teenagers playing cricket on the streets of London or in their estates, which was and still is common in the streets and alleys of Kolkata and her suburbs.

Tournaments are fought on the Indian streets with improvised bats, makeshift wickets and tennis balls, overlooking the security issues and other problems the game might cause to travellers. Often passers by would stop either to watch or participate in the game, and the participation, in whatever form, went beyond socio-economic and cultural barriers. Whatever be the background, when on the street with a cricket bat and a ball the only identity was that of a street cricketer.

This form of cricket could act as a social leveller ensuring cohesion in multi-cultural London. I am not sure whether the game was ever used to ensure socio-cultural harmony in the city and to inspire the youth, who are caught between drugs, violence, abuse and life without any direction.

Although there are claims that street cricket programme StreetChance has encouraged children and the youth of London to engage with the sports and refrained them from joining the gangs, which are so predominant in different parts of London, but its success has not been clearly evident, at least publicly.

This year street cricket has arrived on the streets of London.  Not as a government programme though but in the imagination of a film-maker. Sid Sarkar and Sushanto Sarkar of Flame Visuals have visualised cricket as a way of bringing various communities together.

At a time when London is bustling with people from various socio-cultural, economic and ethnic backgrounds, nothing can be more appropriate than harmonising them, and that through some form of entertainment.

And what can be more entertaining than cricket, when England is giving the West Indians a real drubbing.

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