Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

CRESSER

THERE WAS a time in Jamaican history when the game of cricket was king. The Senior Cup was the competition of choice, while thousands rushed to Sabina Park to watch the territorial Shell Shield or Test matches.

Largely through North American cable television, Jamaica's youth are now more taken with the extravagant slam dunks of the NBA, or NFL touchdowns. But, for the next two months, an exhibition, titled 'A History of Jamaican Cricket - 1870s to The Present', will revisit the glory days of the British summer game in this country.

The exhibition opened Sunday at the National Library of Jamaica at East Street in Kingston. Organised by the Social History Project in the Department of History and Archae-ology at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, it will be shown at other venues across the country, and is scheduled to close December 27.

Upper class

Julian Cresser worked with the UWI on the exhibition, conducting research on over 100 years of cricket in Jamaica. He told The Gleaner that the game has evolved over the decades.

"What I found in my research is that membership at most of the clubs were upper class and the players were either white or near-white," he said. "The blacks who played the game did so in improvised places like cane fields."

Cresser, who gained his Ph.D. in cricket at the UWI, presents 14 panels that show the changing face of the Jamaican game. He also looks at the greats who helped put Jamaican, and West Indian cricket, on the map.

These include batting legends George Headley, Collie Smith and Lawrence Rowe, and bowlers Alfred Valentine and Michael Holding.

Cresser said he called on several sources for the exhibition's pictorials, including The Gleaner, clubs, the National Library and schools which participated in the long-running Sunlight Cup.

Cresser himself played in the Sunlight Cup for St. George's College. The all-rounder has also played at the Senior Cup level for Boys' Town.

Currently, he is a re-search fellow at the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica, an affiliate of the National Library.

'A History of Jamaican Cricket' is the second exhibition by the Social History Project. In Novem-ber 2004, it launched 'The Jamaican Black Middle Class - Late 19th Century and Early 20 Century' which was seen in Kingston, Morant Bay, Mande-ville and Montego Bay.

Kathleen Monteith, director of the Social History Project, said an expo on cricket in Jamaica is timely considering the country is one of eight territories that will host matches in next year's World Cup.

She said other exhibitions are being planned by the department.

"The idea is to bring history to the wider public and not just for historians," she said.

Dr. Christine Cummings, lecturer and sports enthusiast, views exhibits from the expo, 'A History of Jamaican Cricket - 1870s to the Present', at the National Library of Jamaica in Kingston on Sunday. - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer