Welcome to Peshwa Cricket Club

We are a bunch of friendly, cricket loving guys who enjoy a good game in the park, not to mention the beer after the game!

Many of us hail from, or have roots in, the region of Maharashtra on the west coast of India. We also have a good measure of members who hail from the rest of the sub-continent.

The word Peshwa invokes a sense of pride in the history of Maharashtrians. Whilst Chhatrapati Shivaji gave us Maharashtrians a sense of purpose and place in history and set the foundations for a identity, the Peshwas built upon the foundation to establish a place in history – culturally, politically, militarily and economically.

Cultural – Like today, Maharashtra of the times included people from various other regions, cultures, religions and castes. Whilst caste system was prevalent and established as a part of life, several people form a wide variety of backgrounds took the various opportunities and rose to greatness. As far as I know there were no forcible conversions or hate against any particular religion or sect fostered by the state. Yes, there were excesses due to individuals but that can be seen as individual ignorance of the times rather than state sponsored policy. Marathi as a language prospered in the form of prose, poetry, drama.

Political – Under the Peshwas, Maharashtrians came to be recognised as a political force across the Indian sub-continent. Once upon a time a completely ineffective group of people now banded together to form an empire that stretched across India. It was a balance between personal and common gain that was managed as a confederacy. Internally various civil process and systems were setup and managed as a responsibility of the state.

Military – The Maharashtrians came to be force to reckoned with by all across India. In the past, a small group that was known as a small band of guerrillas became recognised as a military might not to be provoked.

Economic – The Maharashtrians enjoyed an era of prosperity due to their cultural, political and military might. Trade and commerce prospered with people from various parts of India and the sub continent.

A lot of Maharashtrians migrated to new lands North, South, East and West to assist with the administration of this growing empire, creating and establishing a presence across India. Over time, many of them blended into the landscape whilst still maintaining a distinct identity and enriched their own and the life of others around them.

I use the term “Maharashtrian” instead of the much used term “ Maratha” empire since during the Peshwa reign, the people responsible for this growth and prosperity came from all kinds of backgrounds and caste ranging from a goatherd, a farmer, a trader and a priest.

Now for the downfall - internal squabbling, - ego - one upmanship - deep caste and class divide - lack of faith and trust - lack of vision and focus to name a few, which are all individual weaknesses, led to the downfall of the Peshwas, which in turn led to us, as a group of people, to remain, even in this advanced and so called “enlightened” age as ineffective and powerless to change and influence our lives as we were before Shivaji’s time. We lost the art of working with and through people.

So…….. here we have a group of individuals – well educated, well travelled, professional (which covers many other attributes) who are motivated to play a game fair and win. To win we need to learn from both the strengths and weaknesses of our people, which is pretty well embodied in the word “Peshwa”.