The signature image has been kindly provided by David Colin-Thome and also graces my book Essaying Cricket. Sri Lanka and Beyond (Colombo: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2006) where a number of his photographs are available.
Photographs will be deployed in profusion within this site in order to draw the interest of readers and the section on the right panel will concentrate on this medium. The main segment will feature a number of my essays but will be embellished by other work borrowed from a variety of sites. The general focus will be on cricket and its politics with a particular emphasis on Sri Lanka. “Politics” is understood here as relations of power and thus engages interpersonal exchanges.
It is entirely appropriate that the opening stanza should lean on the American literary and political analyst, Mike Marqusee,who not only studied Bob Dylan, but mastered the intricacies of cricket, while yet developing an abiding interest in the Indian subcontinent as well as England. Do please read his latest work: If I Am Not for Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew (Verso, 2008).
- Slow Turn (Sphere, 1988) ISBN 978-0747401209
- Defeat from the Jaws of Victory: Inside Kinnock’s Labour Party (co-author with Richard Heffernan) (Verso, 1992) ISBN 978-0860915614
- War Minus the Shooting: a journey through South Asia during cricket’s World Cup (Mandarin, 1997) ISBN 978-0749323332
- Chimes of Freedom: the Politics of Bob Dylan’s Art (New Press, 2003) ISBN 978-1565848252
- Anyone but England: An Outsider Looks at English Cricket (Aurum Press, 2005) ISBN 978-1845130848
- Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties (Verso Books, 2005). ISBN 978-1844675272
- Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the Sixties (Seven Stories Press, 2006) ISBN 978-1583226865.
Stumbled here in reading something on Dr. Quintus/AuSLMAT. I am not a cricket fan but this is one awesome archive and treasure trove for all cricket fans.
I was looking for the source as I did not see a name in the ‘About’ when I noticed the little header ‘Michael Roberts’s Blog’. I should have guessed !!! Super work .. but you don’t need me to tell you that. Hope all’s well with the family ….
I have learned a guy who is a huge cricket fan and he told me about this site. Before I absolutely did not care about this kind of sports. But now he kinda infected me about this.
Hi Michael, Panadura used be my home town. I am only using this site to contact you on a cricket topic & article which might interest you:http://realradio.lk/sri-lankans-brainchild-udrs-saves-sri-lanka/
footnote: I remember still how (Ryan included) we used to jump off the railway bridge over the Panadura River, into the blue waters below – just as the steam train would go thundering past us! Ryan would swim out to sea, all the way to Gonagala and back with Michael Fernandez. I met Skanda Fdo in Dec 16 last in Markham. Your Uncle good old Gilbert Roberts taught English at St Johns, where my mother was actng Principal on & off, whilst teaching languages there. I enjoy your writing, immensely. Ajit Rodrigo-Candappa Potters Bar UK
Hi Ajith Rodrigo, I am also from panadura studied St Johns school , now I am living in Potters Bar UK, member of potters bar cc last 20 years. I am really interesting this blog.