Life Wasn’t Always Like This: The Jack D’Arcy Story

Martin Chandler | 8:56am BST 21 April 2024

Published: 2024
Pages: 275
Author: D'Arcy, Jack
Publisher: The Cricket Publishing Company
Rating: 4.5 stars

As anyone who regularly reads my twice yearly features about forthcoming books will know I have been waiting, not always entirely patiently, for this one for several years. It is, for those not familiar with the name, the autobiography of Jack D’Arcy, a batsman who played in five Tests for New Zealand in 1958, but who left the First Class game before his 26th birthday.

Cricketing autobiographies, in common with most sports books of that genre, have a tendency to be self-serving. This is, to a greater or lesser extent, only to be expected and perhaps inevitable in light of the usual motivation for writing such books. This one was never going to be like that though and even if it does, as it deserves to, sell well its author will make no return on the book, the entirety of the proceeds being earmarked for the Salvation Army in Australia and The Cricketers Trust in New Zealand.

D’Arcy averaged 13.60 in his five Tests, and in his 53 First Class appearances never made a bigger score than the 89 he scored against Glamorgan on the 1958 tour. His cricket career was therefore of interest rather than note, and the majority of the narrative of Life Wasn’t Always Like This is taken up with D’Arcy’s life before and after his brief career as a First Class cricketer.

The post cricket career of Jack D’Arcy was a successful one and, as he celebrates his 88th birthday at the launch of this book on Tuesday of next week, he can look back with immense satisfaction on all that he is achieved. And the purpose of the book? D’Arcy wants to set out his story primarily for the benefit of his descendants. As part of his legacy to them whether or not the book sells is therefore of no real consequence to D’Arcy, and it is for that reason as much as any that the straightforward and clearly entirely honest manner in which he writes produces a finished product that is a cut above the ‘usual’ self-penned life story.

So it is no surprise that D’Arcy’s family background is fully set out, and the sort of personal if not particularly unusual or significant experiences in growing up are set out in some detail. The story is not exactly a ‘rags to riches’ one, but D’Arcy’s roots are working class and his later successes testament to the strong work ethic and moral values instilled in him by his parents.

As a youngster D’Arcy seems to have been a good cricketer rather than an outstanding one, but he still did enough to be selected for that tour of England in 1958. The New Zealanders hadn’t been to England since 1949, when a strong side led by Walter Hadlee had drawn all four Test matches. By 1958 New Zealand only had two real quality players, Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid, and when they both failed in the Tests only the wet summer ensured that New Zealand avoided a 5-0 defeat.

Naturally there is a chapter on the tour, as much about the touring experience as the cricket itself. As noted D’Arcy’s stats suggest that he was a failure in the Tests, but his Test average was not markedly inferior to those of Reid and Sutcliffe, and he impressed Wisden sufficiently for the Almanack to observe that no one excelled D’Arcy for determination and concentration. He showed great pluck in opening the innings and often defended admirably.

After 1958 cricket largely drops out of D’Arcy’s story, and his personal and family life as well as  his business career take over. An accountant by training D’Arcy joined the sales force of the New Zealand office of IBM in 1960, and stayed with the company for the rest of the decade. For those of us who work with twenty first century technology the account of what was ‘cutting edge’ in the 1960s is interesting in itself, as is the explanation of the way careers tended to develop in those days. The story is not without its lighter moments either, particular tales of interest being of D’Arcy’s run in with ‘binny boys’ in Manila, and the chicanery he had to engage in to buy a brand new car in the 1960s.

In 1970 D’Arcy was seconded to IBM’s Sydney office and at the end of his stay there, two years later, he joined ICL and spent a year in Singapore before returning to Australia. By now D’Arcy’s ambition was to start his own business. In 1974 that came to fruition and eventually, in 2000, the by then well established business was sold for a handsome sum. For those with no interest in entrepreneurship or computing that story may not be particularly appealing, but to anyone with a measure of interest in either or both it is an absorbing account, refreshingly free from the hyperbole and self-aggrandisement that generally bedevil the memoirs of successful businessmen.

One entertaining aspect of the story, given this reviewer’s day job, is that lawyers are conspicuously absent from the list of those who attract significant praise or thanks from D’Arcy. As a result of his being in business for so long he must have had some positive interactions with the legal profession, but when it comes to stories about them he prefers to dwell on the negative, and quite rightly so. More than once he relates incidents that reflect poorly albeit entirely accurately on the talents and motivations of some of my professional brethren.

The business is sold at around the two thirds point of the book, and after that the content becomes rather more eclectic. Some of the narrative deals with family matters, both happy and sad. D’Arcy’s life has been hit by tragedy more than once, his having been widowed twice and losing his eldest son to reference the three most tragic. Future generations of his family will be grateful for the memories that he leaves of those who are now departed.

There is at one point here some more cricket, and D’Arcy paints a few pen pictures of some important people in his life. Three are New Zealand cricketers Ian ‘Cranky’ Cromb, ‘keeper Sam Guillen (who was capped by West Indies as well as New Zealand), and Gordon Leggat, the exception that proves the rule where lawyers are concerned. Rather different, and certainly unique in an autobiography in my experience, are the descriptions and impressions D’Arcy sets out of the 19 homes he has owned over his lifetime, but again his family willdoubtless be pleased to read about them.

Overall it is fair to say that, save for members of the D’Arcy family Life Wasn’t Always Like This: The Jack D’Arcy Story is not essential reading, but it is still an excellent story, well told and, as is the norm with this publisher, very well presented. There is currently only one version of the book, a large format hardback with a dust jacket, although it is hoped that in the not too distant future there will be a rather more opulent limited edition, signed by D’Arcy and a number of his teammates from the 1958 tour. Either way the book can be purchased from Roger Page.