Western Samoa: Unsticking the Wicket

Half of Western Samoa’s foodstuffs were gone: banana, breadfruit and cocoa trees, all flattened by a 100-m.p.h. hurricane. It was the worst since 1889, when another keening, killing wind sank three American and three German warships in Apia roadstead.

And what did the Samoans do? They played cricket.

Trouble was, Samoans have rarely known hunger. And cricket, played Samoan style, is so much fun. Each village has a concrete pitch tucked in among the breadfruit trees; sides number a definitely non-U60 to 100 men, women and children clad in lava-lavas and urged on by dancing spectators, yelling, singing, and banging on kerosene drums at a well-hit ball. Badgered by papalagi (white) planters, Prime Minister Fiame Mata’afa Faumuina Mulinu’u II last week handed down the harshest decree of his six-year regime: cricket was banned (Wednesdays and Saturdays ex-cepted). To unstick the wicket as quickly as possible, the villagers set to work clearing away the hurricane rubble.