The new film Fire In Babylon, has brought a lot of attention to the dominance of the West Indies Cricket team of the 70′s & 80′s. The folks at BBC Radio 4 sat down with former player Colin Croft and journalist Darcus Howe, to speak on their past glory and to recount the racial and political ramifications of their dominance in the sport, not only in the West Indies, but throughout the world.

Check the audio below….

A new film charting the past dominance of West Indies cricket has shed light on its political importance to black people in South Africa living under apartheid, as well as those who emigrated to the UK from the Caribbean.

The former West Indian cricketer, Colin Croft, who played on the South African rebel cricket tour, and Darcus Howe, the broadcaster and journalist who was involved in the Brixton riots of 1981, discuss the wider impact of the team’s success.

Check out the full feature here: BBC News – Today – W Indies cricketers ‘lifted game to great heights’.

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While the sport of Cricket is a mystery to most Americans, it’s loved by most in throughout the Caribbean. In his new film, Fire In Babylon, British director Stevan Riley gives some insight into why exactly this is. Check out the details below…

Charting the glorious supremacy of the West Indies cricket team throughout the late 70s and 80s, this film describes how the bat and ball was more effective than gunfire in the battle against racial injustice and struggle for black rights.

In a turbulent era of apartheid in South Africa; race-riots in England and civil unrest in the Caribbean, the West Indian cricketers struck a wonderfully defiant blow at the forces of white prejudice world-wide. With Caribbean flair, fearless spirit and a thumping reggae beat, they hijacked the genteel game of the privileged elite and replayed it on their own terms. By dominating at the highest level – longer than any team in the history of sport – their symbolic declaration was clear: people of colour will not be dictated to – on a cricket ground or in any other field of life.

‘Fire in Babylon’ boasts dynamic archive, classic music by the likes of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Gregory Issacs and Burning Spear, and is a story that celebrates the emancipation of a people through the sport of cricket.

The film will open in select markets this May, and a DVD release will follow on Jun 6th. For more info on the project, be sure to check the official site or follow their page on Facebook.

Also, after the jump check out the first part of a similar documentary, Empire Of Cricket….

For those who might need a primer on the sport, or at least the uniforms, click here.

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The Times put together a nice story on the rise in popularity of Cricket as a summertime sport, covering a youth league set up by the P.A.L. in Brooklyn. Check out an excerpt form the article below…

…And so the police decided to experiment with cricket, a game with a huge following across the Caribbean and South Asia. The response has cut across community lines. Tuesday’s opening match pitted the SuperStars — made up largely of players from Guyana — against the KnightRiders, a predominantly Pakistani team….

Read the full article here: With Every Whack of the Cricket Bat, a Bond.

Also, check out the video of the kids in action below…