The selection of papers which make up this book was first presented as a series of lectures in 1994 to mark the 40th anniversary of Sir Garfield Sobers' Test debut, by the Centre fro Cricket Research (CCR) of the W.W.I. Barbados Campus. The various presentations combined to trace the historical evolution of West Indies cricket from its origins as a white planter elite pastime and as an instrument of British cultural hegemony, to its present position of world dominance.