Lindsay Francis Kline

Martin Chandler | 8:50am GMT 28 November 2021

Published: 2021
Pages: 14
Author: Cavalier, Rodney
Publisher: The Cricket Press Pty Ltd
Rating: 4 stars

This monograph on the life of the Australian left arm wrist spinner of the late 1950s and early 1960s is the first to appear in what will, hopefully, become a long series of such publications bearing the overall title Cricketers in Print.

Publisher Ronald Cardwell has enlisted many of the great and the good of Australian cricket writing to contribute  to the series and a second monograph, on Brian Booth, is already available, and I understand that forthcoming subjects include Les Favell and Jack Walsh.

The writer of this one, Rodney Cavalier, is a retired politician and much of his writing output over the years have been on that subject. Outside of politics he has however always been a true cricket tragic, and this is not the first time he has contributed to the canon of cricket literature.

A long time friend of Kline Cavalier essentially does no more than summarise his old mate’s life and cricketing career but, of course, that personal bond and the insights it brings with it are invaluable and raise this one above a mere ‘pen portrait’. Kline’s own perspective on his finest moment, the 110 minutes that he (definitely a batsman in the ‘rabbit’ class) and ‘Slasher’ Mackay held Frank Worrell’s West Indians at bay for at the Adelaide Oval in 1961 is particularly valuable.

All in all this is a very promising start for the Cricketers in Print series and hopefully the first of many. The card covered booklet is, as this publisher’s wares always are, very well produced on good quality paper and although the limitation of the print run is one of just seventy copies the price is not prohibitive. Copies of Lindsay Francis Kline are available from Roger Page.