Cricket Books

[fredfertang]

Well I have 17 and I dont know if there are any more.

These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head - there is also an autobiography called, I think, "When I was a lad" - what other ones do you have SJS?

THOMSON AA​

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ODD MEN IN​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKET MY HAPPINESS​

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THOMSON AA​

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PAVILIONED IN SPLENDOUR​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKET MY PLEASURE​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKET:THE WAR OF THE ROSES​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKET THE GOLDEN AGES​

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THOMSON AA​

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HUTTON AND WASHBROOK​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKET BOUQUET​

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THOMSON AA​

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HIRST AND RHODES​

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THOMSON AA​

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THE GREAT CAPTAINS​

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THOMSON AA​

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CRICKETERS OF MY TIME​

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THOMSON AA​

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THE GREAT CRICKETER​

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THOMSON AA​

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VINTAGE ELEVENS​

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[SJS]

These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head - there is also an autobiography called, I think, "When I was a lad" - what other ones do you have SJS?

Besides the ones you have listed. I have When I was a lad and Happy Go Johnny which is really written by Thomson although it is shown by Wardle "as told to Thomson"

Thats it actually. It is 15. I have Pavillioned in Splendour and Cricketers of My Time in duplicate thats why I counted it as 17 off my spreadsheet.

 

[SJS]

On another note, which are the best books on stadiums to buy? I am looking at Lord's and other possible venues which have created very good books.

This iis a fairly good list of books on cricket grounds. On Lord's specifically, if you are looking for the history then you cant go beyond these two complimentary volumes.

- Lord's 1787-1945 by Pelham Warner
- Lord's 1946 to 1970 by Diana Rait Kerr and Ian Peebles

However, if you are looking for a book with lots of glossy pictures and some history then there is the beautifully printed book by Stephen Green, Lord's : The Cathedral of Cricket. A stunningly good looking aqcuisition.

 

[SJS]

Is there any book on Doug Wright ?`

 

[SJS]

Some great stuff about Wisden Cricket Web - Cricket Books: Wisden 2009

Well done Martin. Great Stuff.

 

[fredfertang]

Many Thanks SJS, Stumpski and Archie for your positive comments – encouragement is always welcome!

As to AA Thomson according to Padwick there are 25, not including Happy go Johnny, which, as SJS says, was ghosted by Thomson

The others are firstly a volume of humour - Anatomy of laughter

Five works of fiction

The Records of Reggie
Trust Tilty
The Exquisite Burden
Bijou Merle
Bumbledinky

A volume of Poetry – Out of Town


A collection of Essays from the Radio Times with two on cricket – Strolling Commentaries

Also “Great Men of Kent” – 30 pages on Frank Woolley

And last but not least a centenary appeal for Yorkshire CCC

There must be a degree of relevance to cricket to get a mention in Padwick but it doesn’t have to be much!

 

[SJS]

Many Thanks SJS, Stumpski and Archie for your positive comments – encouragement is always welcome!

As to AA Thomson according to Padwick there are 25, not including Happy go Johnny, which, as SJS says, was ghosted by Thomson

The others are firstly a volume of humour - Anatomy of laughter

Five works of fiction

The Records of Reggie
Trust Tilty
The Exquisite Burden
Bijou Merle
Bumbledinky

A volume of Poetry – Out of Town


A collection of Essays from the Radio Times with two on cricket – Strolling Commentaries

Also “Great Men of Kent” – 30 pages on Frank Woolley

And last but not least a centenary appeal for Yorkshire CCC

There must be a degree of relevance to cricket to get a mention in Padwick but it doesn’t have to be much!

I presume these are not cricket related books

 

[fredfertang]

I presume these are not cricket related books

Not to any great extent but what I posted is all that is in Padwick and I know nothing else about them

As to Doug Wright there is a volume in the ACS Famous Cricketers series about him but that apart just his benefit and testimonial brochures

 

[SJS]

Not to any great extent but what I posted is all that is in Padwick and I know nothing else about them

As to Doug Wright there is a volume in the ACS Famous Cricketers series about him but that apart just his benefit and testimonial brochures

Thats a tragedy for clearly he was the greatest leg spinner ever from England and by all ccounts an incredibly good one.

In Clif Cary's Cricket Controversy (covers the Ashes Test matches of 1946-47) there is a whole chapter devoted to him. It makes for fascinating reading.

 

[archie mac]

Thats a tragedy for clearly he was the greatest leg spinner ever from England and by all ccounts an incredibly good one.

In Clif Cary's Cricket Controversy (covers the Ashes Test matches of 1946-47) there is a whole chapter devoted to him. It makes for fascinating reading.

Tich

 

[stumpski]

I meet a Kent bookseller two or three times a season at the Canterbury ground and can ask him about Wright if you like - not sure when that will be though.

I have that Clif Cary book as well. Unusual I thought, not a typical tour/series type book, it basically summarised the series with reference to each of the leading players.

 

[SJS]

I meet a Kent bookseller two or three times a season at the Canterbury ground and can ask him about Wright if you like - not sure when that will be though.

I have that Clif Cary book as well. Unusual I thought, not a typical tour/series type book, it basically summarised the series with reference to each of the leading players.

Thats what I liked about it. Tour books that merely repeat the stats with just a bit of comments are not great fun. Cary comes out as someone who clearly was a very good student of the game. Unfortunately one doesn't find any other book by him. Any idea if there is ?

 

[SJS]

Tich

Ah I was waiting for that reaction. I know thats not a very popularly held opinion but he was very very good. A bit stubborn and extremely jinxed. He could easily have had twice the wickets in the tests ha played. People stopped counting the number of catches dropped of his bowling and they say the number of times the ball seemed to miss the stumps by the coat of varnish was tragic.

It finally came to a stage where he started believing he was jinxed and wouldn't get wickets. He was much better than his figures seem to suggest.

 

[archie mac]

Ah I was waiting for that reaction. I know thats not a very popularly held opinion but he was very very good. A bit stubborn and extremely jinxed. He could easily have had twice the wickets in the tests ha played. People stopped counting the number of catches dropped of his bowling and they say the number of times the ball seemed to miss the stumps by the coat of varnish was tragic.

It finally came to a stage where he started believing he was jinxed and wouldn't get wickets. He was much better than his figures seem to suggest.

But you think him the better legspinner?

 

[SJS]

But you think him the better legspinner?

Other than Freeman and Bosanquet who else if there to compare with? Freeman doesn't have a great test record and Bosanquet without the novelty of his wrong one may not have been under discussion.

Where are the great leg spinners from England? So it is really between him and Freeman and from whatever I have read the opinion is divided on the matter.

 

[archie mac]

Other than Freeman and Bosanquet who else if there to compare with? Freeman doesn't have a great test record and Bosanquet without the novelty of his wrong one may not have been under discussion.

Where are the great leg spinners from England? So it is really between him and Freeman and from whatever I have read the opinion is divided on the matter.

Yes, if England had their way they would have asked Bosanquet to keep his bosie to himslef

 

[The Sean]

Yes, if England had their way they would have asked Bosanquet to keep his bosie to himslef

And everyone in Australia from Herbert Hordern onwards is extremely grateful that he didn't. :-)

 

[archie mac]

And everyone in Australia from Herbert Hordern onwards is extremely grateful that he didn't. :-)

Not sure about SA with Faulkner, Schwarz (spelling) Vogler, but maybe not Cullinan

 

[SJS]

Yes, if England had their way they would have asked Bosanquet to keep his bosie to himslef

You know Godfrey Evans played first class cricket from 1939 well into the 1960's. In his book Behind the Stumps, he gives a squad of 14 from all the players he has played with or against. Here it is

1. Hutton
2. Morris
3. Bradman (Capt)
4. Worrell
5. Compton
6. Weekes
7. Hammond
8. Nourse
9. Miller
10. Tallon
11. Lindwall
12. Bedser
13. Wright
14. Ramadhin

Its amazing how many people write of Douglas Wright's great bowling in an innings where he seems to have had next to no rewards. Here is what Evans writes in one place of Wright's bowling in a Test in Australia in 1946-47 . . .

It was during that mammoth Australian total I saw the finest spell of bowling that Doug Wright has ever sent down. If you look at the records of that match, you may not think so, for Doug took only one wicket for 169. But had you been where I was, behind the stumps, you would have appreciated that great effort.

Doug bowled 46 eight ball overs and he put everything he had into every ball. I watched the batsmen play at those balls and either miss them or get a hard edge which would just miss the slips. Times out of number they would play forward to Doug's googly and the ball would **** up between the two short legs. If Doug had taken six or seven wickets instead of just that one it would have been no more than he deserved.​

Clif Cary writes in his book :-

It is impossible to judge the ability of any cricketer on a tabulated set of figures; to endeavour to do so in the case of Wright would be to perpeterate grave injustice, because digits can not tell the story of the bad luck that trailed him from one end of australia to the other. Never a match went by in which he did not hopelessly defeat the defences of the leading run getters. Times out of number he had Barnes, Bradman, Hassett and their like groping forward hypnotised by the magic of his spinning witchcraft, but Wright is not a spoilt child of fortune. The ball would either miss the stumps by the width of a cigarette paper, be edged uppishly, then dropped, or just fall short of eager hands, while the straight one would fizz through, find the pads, but not the umpire's affirmative nod. Poor Wright. I think everyone in Australia was on his side; they laughed and jokingly barracked his peculiar hopping, floating run, but they recognised him as a genius, skilled in bowling science, with just that something lacking which would have made him a world beater, for Australia's players to swear at and rail against.

 

[SJS]

By the way, even Bradman, in his Farewell to Cricket writing of the best slow bowlers, says, "the best Englishman of recent times was Doug Wright though he was more akin to O'Rielly"