Cricket Books

[neville cardus]

A good idea would be to reach out to some cricket journalists or historians? They might be able to direct us to the right channels?

I'll drop David Frith a line.

 

[neville cardus]

In other news, I tried this morning to write the opening two sentences of my own long-mooted cricket book. But they came out like this, so I stopped:

The rains resurged in the early-morning hours. They swept over London like a broken sea, slanting in sheets that flicked and subsided as the city’s heart began to beat.

Good grief.

 

[neville cardus]

I'll VM you my email.

What's VM, and where do I find it? :-)

 

[Son Of Coco]

Hey all,

I'm writing an essay for a Uni prize and the title I chose is 'Discuss the Historical Significance of the MCG' - I've found plenty of stuff of the Internet, but written sources are imperative. I've had a look for some books, but the ones I've found are published in Australia and thus shipping is either exorbitant or just not possible. Could anyone recommend any books on the history of the MCG or relevant topics which I might be able to acquire in the UK?

It's featured in song on a number of occasions mate. This is a famous example:

 

[54321]

I've come across another historical piece of work, titled "Cricket", it is a collection of essays regarding different aspects of the game, and is edited by Horace.G.Hutchinson (a professional golfer back in the day). It's in the public domain and is available online (via this link). I haven't gone through it all, but the main period of discussion is 19th century cricket and there are a lot of great illustrations included. Definitely check it out if your a cricket history nut!

 

[SeamUp]

Merry Merry everyone.

Snuck away from the festivities. Can't wait to start off with a bit of New Zealand summer cricket and then Australia and then South Africa. Boxing day sport with a bit of Prem/Championship football to follow the cricket. Some cold meat sandwiches as well. Can't beat it. Best day on the calendar.

Got the Mark Boucher Autobiograpahy to read and it should be a great read. Basically the guy who made the SA cricket team tick for near on 15 years and as a keeper you just don't miss much.

But the problem is I need to find the time between watching the cricket and my football and horse racing.

 

[SeamUp]

Apropos of nothing didn't the SABC sell their entire archive to DSTV for a fraction of what it was worth?

But there must have been some footage of the rebel series from the 1980s and some old Currie Cup stuff too. Maybe even the first few series after isolation, I'm not sure when M-Net/Supersport started broadcasting local international cricket.

Interesting if they did.

You just never see any old footage on our televisions. It's a disgrace.

 

[Red]

Looking for a recommendation.

Anyone know of a book that's a researched history of cricket in the sort of pre-history origins of the game? Pre tests etc.

Ideally tracing from it's origins up until the first test matches.

 

[AndrewB]

Looking for a recommendation.

Anyone know of a book that's a researched history of cricket in the sort of pre-history origins of the game? Pre tests etc.

Ideally tracing from it's origins up until the first test matches.

"More Than A Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years" (John Major) is one.

 

[stumpski]

'A Social History of English Cricket' by Sir Derek Birley is very good on the early stuff as well, though it does continue up to the 1990s, when it was written.

 

[Red]

Thanks gents

 

[neville cardus]

Bob Thoms

His Wisden obituary concludes thusly:

Of anything he took up he was bound to be a good judge, his perception of excellence amounting to an absolute gift. He often talked about putting into book form his 60 years' experience of the cricket field, but whether he ever seriously commenced the task one cannot say.

WA Bettesworth's effort furnishes more detail:

Among his most cherished possessions were valuable gifts and letters from numbers of prominent amateurs of the present and the past, ranging from Mr ID Walker to KS Ranjitsinhji. Last year, when he retired from umpiring, the Incogniti, at a dinner given in his honour, presented him with a cheque for £100 and a keepsake; twenty years before they gave him a cheque for a similar amount. He corresponded with many great cricketers, and in earlier days wrote a great deal for the Press, always having something interesting to say in quaint language, which was charming and entirely his own. It is devoutedly to be hoped that if anyone edits the notes which he has left, the editing will be confined to arrangement only, for to alter Thoms’s phraseology would decidedly not be to improve it. Many times—more frequently in the old days—Thoms wrote articles for Cricket, and it was but a few months ago that he sent the last of his annual reviews of the Incogniti season. He had been to a good school, and knew a very great deal more Latin and Greek than most people would have supposed, for he never paraded his knowledge. In his younger days his father was part proprietor of the old Eton and Middlesex cricket ground, where many actors used to play. This brought Thoms into connection with the Stage, and induced him to take a great interest in Shakespeare’s plays, many of which he learned by heart, as a few of his intimate friends can testify.... When the time at last came for him to retire he felt very depressed, for it was hard for him to give up the work which he loved so well. But he rallied, and, although he was never quite the same man again, he soon began to take a more cheerful view of things, and to think about writing his autobiography.

All of which raises the question: Does anyone have any idea where I might go looking for his papers?

 

[Pratters]

Reading Beyond a Bounday. Liking it.

 

[neville cardus]

Reading Beyond a Bounday. Liking it.

I found recently a documentary he made based on the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2eatQ7A9e8

This lecture is also handy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxR-mSAq_8

On which note, you should try his non-cricketing stuff, too.

 

[fredfertang]

Try tweeting the Lord's Librarian

Neil Robinson @mcclibrarian

 

[Pratters]

I found recently a documentary he made based on the book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2eatQ7A9e8

This lecture is also handy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxR-mSAq_8

On which note, you should try his non-cricketing stuff, too.

Thanks, I intend to read his non cricketing stuff too eventually. He analyses politcal stuff really well.

 

[neville cardus]

Try tweeting the Lord's Librarian

Neil Robinson @mcclibrarian

Thanks. Will do.

On a separate note, how about the following, from WJ Ford's contribution to Giants of the Game?

Ben Griffiths ... has the credit of hitting six "sixers" at Hastings in one over.

How on earth have I not heard of this before? Was it a first-class match? If so, why is Sobers hailed as the first to pull it off?

 

[AndrewB]

Thanks. Will do.

On a separate note, how about the following, from WJ Ford's contribution to Giants of the Game?



How on earth have I not heard of this before? Was it a first-class match? If so, why is Sobers hailed as the first to pull it off?

According to Wikipedia: "Griffith also once hit all four balls (although Ford mistakenly wrote about six) of an over right out of the Hastings ground in 1864, when playing for a United Eleven.... As the game was not a first-class match, his feat did not count as a record, but, as Pycroft recalled, "This we never knew equalled"."

 

[neville cardus]

Oh dear. I really do hate it when people answer my anguished queries with references from Wikipedia. Shows what a lazy bastard I am. Can't be bothered even to google the thing.

Thanks, though. That makes sense.

 

[54321]

Can anyone recommend any books on Wilfred Rhodes?