Marginalia/Long Coda

The grounds were often handmade by cricket-mad migrant workers, making a place for themselves to play, making their very own field of dreams. What mattered most here was the game - India versus Pakistan - no politics, no racism, just cricket.

I began this series while traveling across the UAE during my final year living there. The idea was to photograph as many man-made cricket pitches as I could find, a subject that had become very dear to me during the making of 'The Autocratic' project - they'd crossed over each other on a number of occasions and had to be separated often. The grounds were often handmade by cricket-mad migrant workers, making a place for themselves to play, making their very own field of dreams.

Often constructed with materials that were to hand - a notable exception being the Khor Fakkan ground which was an altogether more sophisticated affair - the makeshift pitches were laid down using astroturf, poorly laid concrete, compacted sand or abandoned car park surfaces, with stumps made from concrete blocks, bricks, plastic bottles or whatever functioning materials were available and of significant weight to keep them upright. Male-only detritus fell just outside the edge of the pitch - electrical tape, cigarette ends, massage cards, laban up cartons and chai cups, sometimes neatly bagged up and discarded, oftentimes not.

What mattered most here was the game - India versus Nepal, India versus Pakistan - no politics, no poor race relations tolerated. The project remains incomplete but worthy of showing as an extra to 'The Autocratic' work, as it's more directly documentary in its method and unfinished outcome.