Cricket Books

[LongHopCassidy]

Havent heard a bad word about it so Im eagerly waiting for it to arrive in my mailbox.

Guys, book on Boycott - most recommended seems to be the one by McKinstry. It was published in 2000 which is quite some time ago, any new worthy one? Cheers

Nope. Still the reigning champion and probably the most balanced of all the Boycott bio's.

Has all the juicy anecdotes you could ever want about the ****.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Not sure if it's been mentioned and can't be arsed to look, but Dickie Bird had a new book released a couple of weeks ago entitled 80 Not Out that's worth a read.

 

[stumpski]

I've read a couple of his, and I find it hard to believe he has any fresh anecdotes left to tell.

I don't know which book it was in, but I remember a mildly objectionable phrase he used when talking about a match involving Pakistan in which he was umpiring. There was some confusion about the toss, and Salim Malik, as Bird put it, "started jabbering away in Pakistani" - an on-the-ball editor would have pointed out to Dickie that 'Pakistani' is not a language, and that Malik wouldn't have been 'jabbering away' to someone who could speak Urdu.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Speaking of Haigh, just finished his self-flagellating account of the 2010-11 Ashes. The best part is the way he gets progressively more exasperated with Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson as Australia lose more Tests.

By the end, you get treated to gems like "His conversion rate is as unimpressive as the Australian dollar to the sterling."

Weirdly enough I've just taken delivery of that and his tome on the 2009 series from Amazon, who were basically giving them away.

That's me reading for the next week off sorted.

 

[archie mac]

Weirdly enough I've just taken delivery of that and his tome on the 2009 series from Amazon, who were basically giving them away.

That's me reading for the next week off sorted.

All reviewed on CW

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Weirdly enough I've just taken delivery of that and his tome on the 2009 series from Amazon, who were basically giving them away.

That's me reading for the next week off sorted.

I read it in a sitting. The bloke gambhired the last three Tests with an almost SS fervour. You can feel his disdain for the state of Aus cricket as he ramps it up to at least two esoteric similes per sentence.

That series took its toll on the best of us.

 

[jan]

Guys,
finishing the above mentioned piece on Boycott Im looking for a book about some more likeable character and with as little Yorkshire as possible...C. Walsh perhaps. Tips?

Cheers again.

 

[fredfertang]

Courtney published an autobiography back in 1999 "Courtney - Heart of the Lion" - I've not read it though

 

[social]

Currently reading updated version of Geoff Armstrong's book on 100 Greatest Cricketers and whilst there is some utter nonsense (e.g. chapter on Kallis is a disgrace), some is very interesting (e.g. chapter on Grace)

 

[Red]

Currently reading updated version of Geoff Armstrong's book on 100 Greatest Cricketers and whilst there is some utter nonsense (e.g. chapter on Kallis is a disgrace), some is very interesting (e.g. chapter on Grace)

It's an enjoyable book. Armstrong is one of those basic authors who does things simply but well. I enjoy his stuff.

 

[social]

It's an enjoyable book. Armstrong is one of those basic authors who does things simply but well. I enjoy his stuff.

One of the enjoyable things about it is that he actually expresses opinions rather than simply regurgitates stats/hero worships

Whilst I don't always agree with him (e.g. Kallis is largely dismissed as a minnow-basher), you can actually imagine having a reasonable debate with him about things

 

[Snippie27]

Hi all, long time lurker here. I bought a bunch of cricket books online today, and have no idea with which of them to start my delving into cricketing history and biographies. Most of them are heavily skewed towards South Africa, they were all bought from a fellow South African, and I don't know how many of the people on this forum will have read them yet, but your opinions will help me a lot!

The books are:

Herchelle Gibbs: To the Point
Peter Kirsten: in the nick of time
Deon Gouws: And nothing but the truth (focussing on the Hansie saga)
Trevor Chesterfield: South Africa's cricket captains
Gerald Brodribb: Next man in

Any opinions, reviews, will be much appreciated. I've read a few reviews of the Herche and Brodribb ones, but haven't had much luck in finding out what people thought of the rest...

 

[fredfertang]

Hi all, long time lurker here. I bought a bunch of cricket books online today, and have no idea with which of them to start my delving into cricketing history and biographies. Most of them are heavily skewed towards South Africa, they were all bought from a fellow South African, and I don't know how many of the people on this forum will have read them yet, but your opinions will help me a lot!

The books are:

Herchelle Gibbs: To the Point
Peter Kirsten: in the nick of time
Deon Gouws: And nothing but the truth (focussing on the Hansie saga)
Trevor Chesterfield: South Africa's cricket captains
Gerald Brodribb: Next man in

Any opinions, reviews, will be much appreciated. I've read a few reviews of the Herche and Brodribb ones, but haven't had much luck in finding out what people thought of the rest...

Pretty sure Archie reviewed the Gibbs book, and I think he quite enjoyed it (which surprised me)

The Brodribb one is a terrific book, but in desperate need of a new edition - the only other one of those I've read is the Chesterfield one, which is excellent

The Kirsten one is tricky to find, so well done on picking it up

 

[Snippie27]

Thanks fredfertang! I read Archie's review of Gibbs' book, and it seems the general consensus is that it's no literary marvel, but that his honesty and humour still makes it enjoyable - I do think however that I'll leave that one and the Gouws one for a while. Think I'll start with the Kirsten one, and then decide my next read after that. I was too young to have seen Kirsten play, but am very interested to hear his opinion on the game and the tumultuous time cricket SA had during the apartheid years...

 

[Lokomotiv]

Beyond a Boundary, CLR James

Could anyone buy a copy of Beyond a Boundary by CLR James for me? I am a poor student. Recent devaluation of yen adds me more misery.

 

[Snippie27]

And I'm a very poor community service physio, anybody feel like donating a few hundred pounds? The rand-dollar has plummeted this week!

 

[archie mac]

Guys,
finishing the above mentioned piece on Boycott Im looking for a book about some more likeable character and with as little Yorkshire as possible...C. Walsh perhaps. Tips?

Cheers again.

Don't read the Walsh book, Heart of a lion is one of the worst cricket bios I have read

Currently reading updated version of Geoff Armstrong's book on 100 Greatest Cricketers and whilst there is some utter nonsense (e.g. chapter on Kallis is a disgrace), some is very interesting (e.g. chapter on Grace)

An easy read but I don't agree with too many of his opinions

 

[Snippie27]

I finished the Peter Kirsten (In the nick of time) book in basically one session today.

As a first foray into Cricketing bio's and Cricket books in general it was a very interesting read.

It spent a lot of time on his formative years at Selborne, SACS and later finding his feet for WP.

Enjoyed his take on the County scene, the five years he spent at Derbyshire and how he went from wide-eyed wonder, to feeling rudderless and unsure of his place in a cricketing landscape that still didn't offer him everything he wanted and felt he (rightly) deserved - National status - this was towards the end of SA's isolation.

I really enjoyed reading about the moment that made him a bit of a pariah in SA cricket for a while - running out Paddy Clift on a virtually dead ball, and then the interesting karma of being run out in similar circumstances by Kapil Dev a number of years later.

His move to Border right before his selection for the National squad, was well described and his reasoning makes a lot more sense on looking at it through the more intimate knowledge of everything that came before.

His description of the moment that our 92 dreams came to a crashing, rain-soaked halt is very real, and re-awakened the disbelief I remember feeling as a young 6-year old, that couldn't understand the intecracies of what exactly had happened on that fateful day... His experience shone through in the words he spoke that day to the team led by Kepler Wessels: "come on, guys. We've had a great tournament and done really well. Let's go out and say thanks to the crowd."

I do have some criticisms and complaints - some of the chapters' weren't that well structured, jumping back and forth through different events without clear focus, causing the reader to have to reread certain parts to be certain which game/match is being described.

I also felt more time could have been spent on the political ramifications of the rebel tours (in which he captained the SA team a number of times).

That being said it was an insightful read on a cricketer I had heard about from time to time, but mostly only in relation to the younger, more famous, Kirsten. From all accounts an interesting man that unfortunately, along with Pollock, Richardson, etc received a bad deal due to the political environment of their time...

 

[GIMH]

Could anyone buy a copy of Beyond a Boundary by CLR James for me? I am a poor student. Recent devaluation of yen adds me more misery.

I'll transfer you the money mate, just send me your bank details

 

[archie mac]

I finished the Peter Kirsten (In the nick of time) book in basically one session today.

As a first foray into Cricketing bio's and Cricket books in general it was a very interesting read.

It spent a lot of time on his formative years at Selborne, SACS and later finding his feet for WP.

Enjoyed his take on the County scene, the five years he spent at Derbyshire and how he went from wide-eyed wonder, to feeling rudderless and unsure of his place in a cricketing landscape that still didn't offer him everything he wanted and felt he (rightly) deserved - National status - this was towards the end of SA's isolation.

I really enjoyed reading about the moment that made him a bit of a pariah in SA cricket for a while - running out Paddy Clift on a virtually dead ball, and then the interesting karma of being run out in similar circumstances by Kapil Dev a number of years later.

His move to Border right before his selection for the National squad, was well described and his reasoning makes a lot more sense on looking at it through the more intimate knowledge of everything that came before.

His description of the moment that our 92 dreams came to a crashing, rain-soaked halt is very real, and re-awakened the disbelief I remember feeling as a young 6-year old, that couldn't understand the intecracies of what exactly had happened on that fateful day... His experience shone through in the words he spoke that day to the team led by Kepler Wessels: "come on, guys. We've had a great tournament and done really well. Let's go out and say thanks to the crowd."

I do have some criticisms and complaints - some of the chapters' weren't that well structured, jumping back and forth through different events without clear focus, causing the reader to have to reread certain parts to be certain which game/match is being described.

I also felt more time could have been spent on the political ramifications of the rebel tours (in which he captained the SA team a number of times).

That being said it was an insightful read on a cricketer I had heard about from time to time, but mostly only in relation to the younger, more famous, Kirsten. From all accounts an interesting man that unfortunately, along with Pollock, Richardson, etc received a bad deal due to the political environment of their time...

Good stuff, would you consider writing a full review for CW?