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Cricket Books

sportychic33

State 12th Man
got astle's book today, got asked if i wanted an exchange card as the person at the teller didn't think girls should be buying cricket books. only read a few pages, will do a review when i have finished it.
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Just reading The Larwood Story right now.

Very interesting, though it switches from the 1st person to the 3rd from sentance to sentance which I guess is the Ghosts sloppiness.

What stands out it that he was considered a joke in the beginning as he was so small and scrawny and thought incapable of bowling quick.

So when people look back and think that he could not have been that quick as he was so small and that he may have ben typical of the smaller build of person in the 30s they have to consider that he was classed as tiny back then as well and that he was just a freak.

He was dramatically undersized then, just as he would be now but that shouldnt cont against him.

He muses over why he is/was capable of bowling so much quicker than physically more imposing people and concludes that his action and runup was perfectly coordinated.

I found it interesting that he was called 'Lightening' Larwood from a young age. Not due to bowling fast but that he was a quicker sprinter than all the other kids in his area. Maybe that athleticism combined with the coordination were the reasons that helped him overcome his limited physical size.
 
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archie mac

International Coach
Just reading The Larwood Story right now.

Very interesting, though it switches from the 1st person to the 3rd from sentance to sentance which I guess is the Ghosts sloppiness.

What stands out it that he was considered a joke in the beginning as he was so small and scrawny and thought incapable of bowling quick.

So when people look back and think that he could not have been that quick as he was so small and that he may have ben typical of the smaller build of person in the 30s they have to consider that he was classed as tiny back then as well and that he was just a freak.

He was dramatically undersized then, just as he would be now but that shouldnt cont against him.

He muses over why he is/was capable of bowling so much quicker than physically more imposing people and concludes that his action and runup was perfectly coordinated.

I found it interesting that he was called 'Lightening' Larwood from a young age. Not due to bowling fast but that he was a quicker sprinter than all the other kids in his area. Maybe that athleticism combined with the coordination were the reasons that helped him overcome his limited physical size.

I also enjoyed The Larwood story, do you have the first edition or the later paper pack one?
 

armchairumpire

U19 Cricketer
got astle's book today, got asked if i wanted an exchange card as the person at the teller didn't think girls should be buying cricket books. only read a few pages, will do a review when i have finished it.
Why do people think only men will buy cricket books?

What is the title of the Astle book?
 

sportychic33

State 12th Man
Why do people think only men will buy cricket books?
I don't know but it gives me a good laugh.

The title is simply : Nathan Astle with Phil Gifford.

So far it is alright (have only read the early stages of career it rabbits on about his natural ability and his parents) . It isn't worded very well and goes backwards and fowards ( while trying to be in chronological order) with a lot of those annoying insights from people like David Trist, Gary Stead, Flem etc some of which don't make sense and appears to just be a manuscript of their response to questions. Then Astle pretty much repeats what they have said.

Hopefully it wil improve when it gets to the bits about why he left the Black Caps etc,.
 

neville cardus

International Debutant
Picked up Gooch and Duffus's autobiographies today, and can't wait to get started on the latter. Louis was surely South Africa's greatest-ever cricket scribe.
 

armchairumpire

U19 Cricketer
I don't know but it gives me a good laugh.

The title is simply : Nathan Astle with Phil Gifford.

So far it is alright (have only read the early stages of career it rabbits on about his natural ability and his parents) . It isn't worded very well and goes backwards and fowards ( while trying to be in chronological order) with a lot of those annoying insights from people like David Trist, Gary Stead, Flem etc some of which don't make sense and appears to just be a manuscript of their response to questions. Then Astle pretty much repeats what they have said.

Hopefully it wil improve when it gets to the bits about why he left the Black Caps etc,.
Sounds like a book written to a deadline ie for the Christmas stocking.

My local bookseller is a real cricket tragic like me and he has a really good range of cricket books. We have lots of good discussions about cricket. I also have some comical ones with his wife who is a long suffering cricket widow.
 

burr

State Vice-Captain
got astle's book today, got asked if i wanted an exchange card as the person at the teller didn't think girls should be buying cricket books.
lol :laugh:

I recommend 'It's Hot' by John Harms. It's actually an article that appears in 1997 Best Australian Sports Writing and Photography. It captures that link between cricket, summer and childhood so brilliantly.
 

archie mac

International Coach
lol :laugh:

I recommend 'It's Hot' by John Harms. It's actually an article that appears in 1997 Best Australian Sports Writing and Photography. It captures that link between cricket, summer and childhood so brilliantly.
He wrote a book about the Ashes tour 1998/99 (from memory), very good read:)
 

The Sean

Cricketer Of The Year
got astle's book today, got asked if i wanted an exchange card as the person at the teller didn't think girls should be buying cricket books. only read a few pages, will do a review when i have finished it.
Damn right - girls reading about cricket just gets in the way of their domestic duties. :ph34r:
 

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