Cricket Books

[neville cardus]

Whenever you like Rodney

Done. With footnotes and everything!

 

[fredfertang]

There's a check box you need to tick to get it on the front page, and then you're done

 

[neville cardus]

Would that be the "Featured" checkbox?

 

[fredfertang]

No its the one marked "Books" under "Categories"

 

[neville cardus]

Cheers.

Enjoyed your review of Sundial in the Shade, by the way:

If I believed in conspiracy theories I would probably think the publishing industry was trying to tell me it was time to buy a kindle – personally I’d rather have a few more pages than have to dig around for my rarely used reading glasses, even if the additional paper did cost me an extra pound or two.

Another good reason to get a Kindle is its word-search function. That would obviate your frustrations with the missing index.

 

[Pratters]

There is a story about Jackson borrowing a towel from a fellow player, and then later giving the player a new one, in its packaging in return, saying the players' towel had somehow got lost.
The player's mum went off crook saying the new towel wasn't the same quality as the one lent to Jackson.

Some time later the player learnt of Jackson's TB.

I haven't been able to find the story again so I don't know its authenticity, but it brought a tear to the eye.

That's a lovely anecdote. Wasn't in the book. Does seem the kind of thing Archie Jackson could do.

 

[AndrewB]

The answer to this question, if I have it right, is quite remarkable.

Grace's first-class career began on 22 June 1865, when he turned out for Gentlemen of the South against Players of the South. He was stumped for 0, but made up for it by taking 5-44 and 8-40. At that time, Tom Hayward of Cambridgeshire had scored five first-class centuries; he added a sixth (his last) on 17 July, for the All England XI against Yorkshire. I think that may have been the record at the time.

Grace's last first-class match was played in April 1908 - he scored 15 and 25 for Gentlemen of England against Surrey. Jack Hobbs, who would surpass his number of centuries, played for Surrey but by that time he had only 12 hundreds to his name. WG left the first-class game with 124 centuries. The next-best on the list at that time (April 1908) had 80 (of his eventual 104). It was... Tom Hayward of Surrey, who also played in Grace's last game (scoring 0). He was, of course, the nephew of the earlier Tom Hayward.

So the answer in each case is - Tom Hayward.

(Sorry for the late reply - came across this via the footnote in the WG Grace book review).

The older Tom Hayward held the record prior to WG for 19th century first-class hundreds, but if you include 18th century matches, Thomas Walker scored 6 centuries in 1786-97, and Lord Frederick Beauclerk also scored 6 centuries in 1796-1809.

 

[neville cardus]

Thanks, Andrew. I'm afraid I didn't look that far back. Will alter it presently.

Shall I just credit you as "AndrewB"? I've either forgotten or never knew your surname.

So chuffed, by the way, to see that people actually do read my footnotes.

 

[AndrewB]

Thanks, Andrew. I'm afraid I didn't look that far back. Will alter it presently.

Shall I just credit you as "AndrewB"? I've either forgotten or never knew your surname.

So chuffed, by the way, to see that people actually do read my footnotes.

"AndrewB" is fine. It's still a nice coincidence about the Haywards even though it only applies for 1800 onwards.

 

[neville cardus]

"AndrewB" is fine. It's still a nice coincidence about the Haywards even though it only applies for 1800 onwards.

Should've tightened up the prose a bit: What I wanted to say was that, among Grace's contemporaries, at the start and at the finish of his career, the Haywards were second best in the century-scoring stakes. That's how I understood Max's post.

Thanks again, though.

 

[archie mac]

Glad you are enjoying it and glad I facilitated the addresses to Bloomsbury correctly

 

[archie mac]

The last cricketing biographic that I read was Robert Low's one about WG. Not much that I didn't already know, but the level of detail and research that went into it was fantastic. Feel like any lover of our great game needs to have at read at least one book about WG.

On a theme of cricket I'm actually currently reading Cycling To The Ashes by Oli Broom. Really enjoying it so far; in particular reading about the cricket enthusiasts that he has met along the way in the likes of Serbia/Austria etc.

What tour is he covering?

 

[Pratters]

Have been reading AA Thomson's Cricketers of My Time on and off for a couple of years now. Find his style nice. He tells the things in his own relaxed pace. Depending on my patience, it can be tedious at times. When I am a bit more persistent, it is quite amazing. It is like sitting on a sofa and listening to a man talk about cricket with all the time in the world.

 

[neville cardus]

I've just had cause to update my review of WG's History of a Hundred Centuries with yet another example of the sticky-bail syndrome. In addition, therefore, to the following--

• On his 117 not out for the MCC against Nottinghamshire at Lord’s in 1870: “During the course of my first innings, when I had made about sixty, I played a ball of JC Shaw’s hard on to my wicket, but the bails were not knocked off.”
• On his 158 for the Gentlemen against the Players at the Oval in 1873: “A curious circumstance occurred in this match, for when Emmett was put on to bowl in the place of McIntyre, when Longman and I had scored 44 runs, the second ball he bowled I played hard onto my wicket, but the bails stuck to the stumps.”
• On his 131 for the Gentlemen against the Players at Hastings in 1894: “I had a peculiar slice of luck in this innings, by the way—a ball bowled by Mold cannoning off my pad against the wicket without knocking a bail off.”

--we now have this:

When the Australians were going into the field, Murdoch said to Palmer, ‘If you can only get a yorker into WG first ball, George, you’ll get him.’ ‘I’ll try,’ said Palmer. The first ball was a yorker. It got past WG. It hit the wicket, but did not shift the bails.

The occasion was the first-ever Test Match on English soil. Grace went on to score 152.

This is quite mad.

 

[neville cardus]

I wonder if I'm alone in my frustration at the epic and undifferentiated awfulness of books of cricket quotations. I've yet to find one whose author shows any evidence of having gone thoroughly into the literature of the game. Instead they either sponge off each other or copy-'n'-paste from Cricinfo. Or both: David Hopps's effort, frankly, rises to the level of plagiarism.

And Lawrence Booth is almost as bad. For all his introductory schtick about averting the unoriginal, and despite Wisden's imprimatur, he leans as heavily on Hopps as Hopps leans on Cricinfo's "Quote/Unquote" section.

We deserve better.

UPDATE: Has CricketWeb reviewed either of these yet?

 

[fredfertang]

The way is clear for you to review them Rodney

There is a half decent one by Irving Rosenwater, but it would be stretching it to describe that as good - I think the whole concept is just too lightweight to ever produce anything important

 

[cnerd123]

Does anyone know if it is possible to sign up for a subscription to Wisden's Almanack? Or do you have to buy each copy as it releases each year.

 

[fredfertang]

There is a subscription service - you get it for half price - doubtless it is somewhere on the Bloomsbury website

 

[uternity]

I agree with you most of the cricketers relate with it.It seems that you are very knowledgeable about this people related to cricket what actually doing and what effects the cricket..

 

[Red]

I agree with you most of the cricketers relate with it.It seems that you are very knowledgeable about this people related to cricket what actually doing and what effects the cricket..

Awta (I think)