Cricket Books

[fredfertang]

I'm half-way through Conrad Hunte's autobiography 'Playing To Win' , It's a decent book and a fast read, will get done with it when I find an hour or two today. HIs views on the black-white divide are really new to me.

Interesting choice - what made you pick that one out?

Another cricketer who was committed to Moral Rearmament, its called Initiatives of Change now, was TC "Dickie" Dodds - he was an opening bat for Essex after the war - bit of a Virender Sehwag in approach, though not as good obviously - he published an autobiography called "Hit Hard and Enjoy it", which, if that's the aspect that interests you, you might find worthwhile - it's also pretty short - it's not that common but turns up on ebay from time to time and isn't costly

 

[Teja.]

Interesting choice - what made you pick that one out?

Another cricketer who was committed to Moral Rearmament, its called Initiatives of Change now, was TC "Dickie" Dodds - he was an opening bat for Essex after the war - bit of a Virender Sehwag in approach, though not as good obviously - he published an autobiography called "Hit Hard and Enjoy it", which, if that's the aspect that interests you, you might find worthwhile - it's also pretty short - it's not that common but turns up on ebay from time to time and isn't costly

Haha, didn't pick it out really. Was scavenging through my (late)grandfather's old books in his place's store room and found some cricket books too. A lot of Gavaskar's and Benuad's books, some autobiographies and stuff. A lot of them have their covers torn off half or completely and all the pages are covered in dust. I'm really excited tstl.

About the Hunte book, I hit the point where he talks about his spiritual experiences. I'm an atheist and 'twas a little nauseating to see him talk about him crying and 'talking to god' and everything. I'm gonna start reading again now and finish it. Hope he talks cricket tbh.

 

[fredfertang]

Before the Lights Went Out : The 1912 Triangular Tournament

We like our cricket history here on the review team, and Patrick Ferriday has provided us with a real treat this week

 

[archie mac]

Before the Lights Went Out : The 1912 Triangular Tournament

We like our cricket history here on the review team, and Patrick Ferriday has provided us with a real treat this week

Just bought this one and hate reading reviews before I read a book, so will have to wait to read your effort

 

[fredfertang]

Just bought this one and hate reading reviews before I read a book, so will have to wait to read your effort

 

[hang on]

what do u lot think of fingleton's brightly fades the don?

have heard very good things about it but haven't got around to buying it yet.

 

[archie mac]

what do u lot think of fingleton's brightly fades the don?

have heard very good things about it but haven't got around to buying it yet.

First class and the fact he does not like Bradman makes the more interesting

 

[hang on]

thanks.

yep, the fingleton bradman lack of love was one reason i wanted to read it. fingleton also became an excellent journalist after his cricketing days and hence i admire the man.

 

[fredfertang]

All of Fingleton's books are worth reading - Cricket Crisis, his book about bodyline is particularly good, as indeed is Brightly Fades The Don

 

[Flyonthewall]

I've just started reading a biography of the great Surrey all-rounder and captain PGH Fender (written by Richard Streeton - it was one of my grandfather's old cricket books).

I think I've just found a new cricketing hero! I knew about the 35-minute hundred, but there was much more to him than that on the evidence of this book - the way he consistently challenged the orthodox notions of how cricket should be played, and also his willingness to stand up to the committee mandarins at a time when this simply wasn't done (e.g.leading amateurs and pros out through the same gate), mark him out as a more interesting character than a lot of cricketers, and he was clearly a great thinker on the game. I reckon that if he'd been around today, he'd have made a killing, with big hitting, ceaselessly inventive bowling, and brilliant fielding - but whether someone of his remorselessly attacking mindset would have enjoyed OD cricket is another story, I guess.

To sum up: a good discovery. Fender WAG.

 

[fredfertang]

Yes Fender is a fascinating guy - if you can get hold of one of the tour books he wrote you'll see he was a very fine writer as well - he wrote books on the 20/21, 28/29, 30 and 34 tours - being a mate of DRJ's he had a hand in the birth of bodyline too - it's must unfortunate no newspaper sent him out that winter - a first hand account from Fender on 32/33 might well avoided the need for most of the millions of words that have subsequently been written on it

 

[archie mac]

I've just started reading a biography of the great Surrey all-rounder and captain PGH Fender (written by Richard Streeton - it was one of my grandfather's old cricket books).

I think I've just found a new cricketing hero! I knew about the 35-minute hundred, but there was much more to him than that on the evidence of this book - the way he consistently challenged the orthodox notions of how cricket should be played, and also his willingness to stand up to the committee mandarins at a time when this simply wasn't done (e.g.leading amateurs and pros out through the same gate), mark him out as a more interesting character than a lot of cricketers, and he was clearly a great thinker on the game. I reckon that if he'd been around today, he'd have made a killing, with big hitting, ceaselessly inventive bowling, and brilliant fielding - but whether someone of his remorselessly attacking mindset would have enjoyed OD cricket is another story, I guess.

To sum up: a good discovery. Fender WAG.

Not that it is great but if you can find the Bodyline series DVD. I enjoyed the Fender character in it. Streeton wrote the book during a newspaper writers strike, a pity he did not write another

a first hand account from Fender on 32/33 might well avoided the need for most of the millions of words that have subsequently been written on it

Good post, agree 100%

 

[Jarquis]

Picked up George Lohmann - Pioneer Professional when in Bristol for only £2. Has anybody read it?

 

[archie mac]

Picked up George Lohmann - Pioneer Professional when in Bristol for only £2. Has anybody read it?

Cricket Web - Cricket Books: George Lohmann, Pioneer Professional

 

[Midwinter]

Recently read the Duncan Hamilton book about Harold Larwood. It is a good read but seems to get a bit lost in the immediate post-cricket years.

Foe a book about a cricketer it doesn't have a lot of cricket in it. While that may have been the intent it does mean the context for many events is missing.

For example,

There is much made of his parents in his early life but once he starts playing Notts there is barely a mention of his parents or the rest of his family,very little about his wife also.

There is scant mention of his cricket before his trial for Notts or how he was invited to to trial.

But it is worth the read.

As an Australian I do have one whinge, given that Larwood was a friend of Fingleton, it is understandable that Bradman is given the Fingleton/O'Reilly treatment but with the perspective of time and the amount that is known about Bradman a couple of paragraphs giving a comparison of their backgrounds would have helped the story as well a mention of Bradman's age.
At the time of Bodyline he was regarded as an ogre but he was 23 years old. In today's team only Steve Smith would have been younger than him. What were you doing when you were 23 years old ?

 

[archie mac]

Recently read the Duncan Hamilton book about Harold Larwood. It is a good read but seems to get a bit lost in the immediate post-cricket years.

Foe a book about a cricketer it doesn't have a lot of cricket in it. While that may have been the intent it does mean the context for many events is missing.

For example,

There is much made of his parents in his early life but once he starts playing Notts there is barely a mention of his parents or the rest of his family,very little about his wife also.

There is scant mention of his cricket before his trial for Notts or how he was invited to to trial.

But it is worth the read.

As an Australian I do have one whinge, given that Larwood was a friend of Fingleton, it is understandable that Bradman is given the Fingleton/O'Reilly treatment but with the perspective of time and the amount that is known about Bradman a couple of paragraphs giving a comparison of their backgrounds would have helped the story as well a mention of Bradman's age.
At the time of Bodyline he was regarded as an ogre but he was 23 years old. In today's team only Steve Smith would have been younger than him. What were you doing when you were 23 years old ?

We have a review on site of the Larwood book. Personally having read so much about Lol it was quite good not to have so much cricket and a lot more about the man. However I did notice the lack of cricket content with the author missing out whole series Larwood played it without a mention.

 

[Midwinter]

Would have liked to hear about his first tour of Oz and more about playing against WI amongst other things.

 

[fredfertang]

Agree with archie on this one - Larwood's 1965 autobiography is a terrific book too, and that contains his cricket career - but not so much of the man himself, which is what Duncan Hamilton brought out in his book

 

[Midwinter]

Thanks for that, I'll keep an eye out for it.

 

[shivfan]

I'm currently reading CMJ's 'Top 100 cricketers of all time', and I must say, I find it very disappointing....

He makes errors thru poor research, i.e. saying that Holding was an outstanding hurdler in his youth. No, CMJ, he was a long-jumper, and only to a school standard - he was never national standard.

And ranking players from 1-100 is always going to be a contentious issue, but even there, CMJ makes some baffling selections. For example, is Andrew Flintoff really a more outstanding cricketer than either Michael Holding or Courtney Walsh? And was Ian Botham really a greater cricketer than Brian Lara?

CMJ alleges that Lloyd maintained a successful record in Test cricket captaincy because his bowlers had a slow over rate that ensured that the Windies didn't lose a Test match. That is a cheap shot by CMJ with no facts or statistics to back up that off-the-cuff assertion. I have a big problem with journalists who make these unsubstantiated comments, and fail to come up with the evidence. So, I went back and looked at all of the Tests captained by Lloyd, and I found that in the vast majority of draws, the other teams were the ones hanging on for a draw. There was only one match I could find where the Windies were hanging on for a draw, and they were batting in that game, so a slow over-rate would've been useless in that match!

It's WI vs Pakistan in 1977 at Kensington Oval....

I find it disappointing that journalists like CMJ can follow the Wisden line of the time, espoused by forgettable editors such as David Frith, trying to denigrate the achievements of Lloyd's West Indies by harping on about slow over-rates, the use of bouncers, and how 'boring' Lloyd's West Indies were....