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JULY 2012
63
TURF WAR
Pakistan’s legendary
Imran Khan faces
English batsman
Derek Randall in a
1982 match
GETTY IMAGES
Wicket
Games
Amid a renewed push tomake
cricket an Olympic sport,
one writer goes to bat for this
shockingly aggressive—yet
delightfully civilized—pastime
BY CHRISTOPHER SANDFORD
One a ernoon inMay 1944, when Gen.
Dwight Eisenhower was in London in
advance of the D-Day landings, some
of his British staff suggested he take a
break fromplanning the invasion
of Normandy. Naturally, they brought
him to a cricket match. Several hours
later, Ike emerged somewhat
shaken by the experience. “It
wasn’t like watching baseball
back home,” he reported.
“There was a nice crowd,
sure, but those guys
on the field were
mean
to each
other.”