http://www.flickr.com/photos/southeil/
On the eve of the first game of the season, I should be labouring on a poetic, prophetic perhaps, sweeping possibly, opening statement but all I can think on is this picture I found on ‘Flickr’. It’s a game of cricket at a mental hospital in Ontario Canada in 1904. The Mimico Asylum team were highly regarded in their day and they nursed- in the metaphorical sense but who can tell; if anyone knows whether inmates made up the team please get in touch) several Canadian internationals. It turns out that quite a few asylums were built with cricket pitches for inmates. And I believe they’ve played cricket at Broadmoor for a century. I wonder if the misunderstood violent psychopath Charles Bronson is a batsman, bowler or all rounder? Now there’s one man no Aussie would dare sledge. I’m hoping someone will explain to me who in their right mind would recommend cricket for the mentally ill. Is this madness itself? Cricket is a testing game for the sane never mind the troubled and the insane
2 Comments
Found this via ‘Line and Length’ and really enjoyed it. Good luck for the season.
I’ll be blogrolling you and you might like to check out my site if you get a minute between scoring tons.
The Mimico Cricket Club consisted of inmates. The oval was built by the patients, who were not compensated for their work. They were probably encouraged to play crickets and other games as a form of treatment, and the asylum was built specifically in a rural area.
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