Indians celebrate double century of a colonist's game they made their own

The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon and pioneered a very useful form of boot. What most people don't know is that he also pioneered the playing of cricket in India.

This week the seaside town of Tellicherry, in northern Kerala, celebrated 200 years of cricket with a match between celebrity teams from India and Sri Lanka.

The British had come to Tellicherry way back in 1663. It was their first "factory" on the Malabar coast; from the fort they built above the sea (which still stands) they exported pepper and cardamom to Europe and successfully fended off attacks by the likes of Haider Ali, father of the famous Tippu Sultan.

Arthur Wellesley, Dublin-born, Eton-educated, later made 1st Duke of Wellington, arrived on the Malabar coast in 1797 at the age of 28. He was the most energetic, cunning and ruthless British commander the Indians had yet had the misfortune to encounter – though his enemies were later to claim that the wiles that helped him win at Waterloo 18 years later were learnt in India.

Malabar, like much of India, was still in ferment: the French were close at hand, the local river was known as the English Channel because it separated British-held Tellicherry from French-ruled Mahe. Wellesley had clear ideas about how to subdue his Indian enemies. In his Malabar campaign he ordered the commander of a punitive column to burn villages and carry off property and livestock.

"The confidence of our Native Troops," he reasoned, "will be increased, and that of their opponents diminished."

And to keep his men from becoming bored in between bouts of looting and pillaging, he made sure they played cricket. The impact of the game in aregion where the only indigenous sport was the ancient martial art of Kalaripayattu (a precursor of judo) can only be imagined.

And the locals were not restricted merely to gaping. When British players were in short supply, Wellesley roped in the low-caste local peons (bearers), dhobis (laundrymen) and fishermen to man the boundary rope.

Soon the more promising found themselves at the crease: a legendary figure called Kunnhipakki, for example, became known for hitting only sixes; one Abubacker was famous for his cross-bat slogging.

Bollywood's biggest hit of 2001 was Lagaan, which tells a similar story of Indian peasants learning the bizarre imported game. In the film they end up besting the imperialists, thereby avoiding a pernicious British tax.

Tellicherry's story also ends with a thumb to the nose. The town's proudest son, Dr Nair, was a freedom fighter in the independence struggle. And Tellicherry has been a bastion of Communism for years.