The attackers put an end to a clash of the Hindu spinners in a city that was once a major Hindu centre. Lahore, then part of undivided India, was the centre of the Arya Samaj movement that was founded by Swami Dayananda in the 1870s. Arya Samaj is a Hindu reform movement that seeks to remove ignorance and superstition.

It is ironic that violence has crippled cricket in South Asia at a time when a Hollywood movie has brought back memories of an earlier cricketing crisis. In a crucial moment in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, the hero Jamal is asked who has scored the highest number of first-class centuries. His answer will determine his fate on a TV game show. Jamal correctly answers Jack Hobbs. The host of the TV show then states that Hobbs scored a unmatched 197 first-class centuries.

The exact number of Sir Jack Hobbs' first-class centuries is a matter of dispute. In 2006, the game's statistician officially recognized 2 centuries that Hobbs made on a private tour to Ceylon and India in 1930-1 to give a total of 199 and not 197. Hobbs, along with Herbert Sutcliffe, played for the Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram's XI. The fact that Hobbs played in this region is not widely known. The reference to his record in the movie has brought it to prominence.

The parallels between then and now are startling. Western fear about touring the subcontinent curtailed a tour. A rich and ambitious man stepped in to salvage the game.

In 1930, England were to tour India for the first time. India had just been admitted to Test cricket. However, England cancelled the tour, because of security concerns. The famous Salt march of 1930 was followed by protests throughout undivided India.

Even in Ceylon, then a minor backwater of the Empire, there were protests. The Jaffna Youth Congress was the first Ceylonese organisation to show solidarity with the Indians. They demanded Purna Swaraj or full independence for the whole island.

The British were intent on crushing the non-violent Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi's arrest was followed by the arrest of almost 100,000 others. British India ground to a halt. Even domestic cricket in India was curtailed, with the cancellation of the Bombay quadrangular, according to Ramachandra Guha, the cricket historian.

A minor Prince from South India Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagram was the saviour. He was the Lalit Modi of his day. He loved cricket, but also recognized its potential to elevate his status. Vizzy, as he was known, privately contracted Sir Jack Hobbs and some other leading English cricketers to play in India.

They were to be joined by the Nayudu brothers and Mushtaq Ali, who were India's leading players. The private team played first in Colombo and then in Madras, Hyderabad and Bombay.

In 1930, Sir Jack Hobbs was the greatest player ever. He had every conceivable batting record. He had messianic appeal in India. Large crowds flocked to watch him.

Convincing him to tour was Vizzy's finest achievement. He had turned down visits to India on five previous occassions. Even Hobbs' biographers are unaware of how Vizzy managed to persuade the 48 year-old Hobbs to tour the strife-torn region.

That Vizzy brought his team to Ceylon is a great tribute to the island. He played against Dr. John Rockwood XI, Ceylon's pioneering patron of cricket. Dr. Rockwood was the first President of the Ceylon Cricket Association and a wealthy landowner. Dr. Rockwoods XI contained the top Ceylonese such as CH Gunasekera, who had excelled for Middlesex and Ed Kelaart. Kelaart, an off-spinner, had impressed Bradman during his visit earlier in the year.

The tour proceeded peacefully and memorably. Hobbs got two hundreds in Ceylon, lest we forget. The game continues to thrive in South Asia.

So, in a time of despair, one must have solace in cricket's rich and secular heritage in South Asia. That is what Vizzy and Rockwood would have wanted.