From Lord’s to the Fjords
Martin Chandler |Published: 2023
Pages: 168
Author: Harris, Kit
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 3.5 stars
The Saga of Icelandic Cricket is the sub title, which suggests some sort of dry history, but Kit Harris’s new book certainly isn’t that. In fact I have admit to at one point wondering whether From Lord’s to the Fjords might be fiction, but it isn’t that either. Nor is it the author’s autobiography, although there are elements of that present and, increasingly as you get through the book, there is no shortage of humour.
Although I am still musing over the opening chapter. In it Harris puts forward a case for cricket having been first played by Icelanders over half a century before the game is first recorded in England. Back in the days when I was a keen young advocate we used to call this ‘Heavering’, which is the art of putting a superficially attractive legal argument forward in such a way that you can at least keep your client happy by putting it before a court. This one is a particularly difficult ‘Heaver’ because Harris’s own expert witness is agin him, but even that doesn’t dissuade from him trying to make the case.
As Harris moves on I have to confess to beginning to think that, not to put too fine a point in it, Harris was making his history of Iceland and its social and sporting development up. The beauty of the internet is of course that such matters can be checked, and I did start to enjoy From Lord’s to the Fjords a lot more once I realised it was a serious work, albeit one written in an entertaining fashion.
One thing I did know about, having been exposed to daily doses of news on the ‘Cod Wars’ in my teens was Iceland’s not always entirely friendly relationship with the UK. In particular I did know that the country had been ‘occupied’ in World War Two, albeit not that the first recorded cricket match in Iceland (if you ignore Chapter 1 of course) was between the Navy and the RAF in 1943, the former captained by a descendant of the Grace family.
But that, not surprisingly was that, at least until Ragnar Kristinsson, and if nothing else he is a genuine Icelander, spotted that the game existed when he saw a television news item on the 1999 World Cup whilst on holiday in Cyprus.
From a standing start Ragnar decided to take an interest and, a couple of misunderstandings involving Wisden and Sky Sports News later Icelandic cricket was a story. The real problem was that in truth it wasn’t, but a long distance and a great deal of hubris can create anything in the modern world, and from a stuttering beginning cricket did begin its existence in Iceland helped, inevitably, by a handful of expats from the Test playing nations.
The collapse of the Icelandic banks then coincided with another dip in interest, but then Harris himself became involved, and the pattern repeated itself. A qualified coach visited the country, and Harris, via the alter ego of Kato Jonsson, a mystery spinner on the brink of signing for IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. Unfortunately for Harris however he didn’t get the gig, and then the pandemic hit and the business that had grown out of his relationship with Icelandic cricket came to an end.
Looking for another new start Harris then applied, successfully, for the job he now has, as an assistant editor at Wisden, so pretty much as good as it gets for a cricket tragic. To add to his repertoire he has also taken up writing, and this one is his second book*, and certainly demonstrates his versatility.
The serious student of cricket might well choose to pass From Lord’s to the Fjords by, but if they do they will miss out on something that manages the tricky balancing exercise of telling a serious story in a thoroughly entertaining way.
*The first, The Queen at the Cricket, also published by Fairfield, will be reviewed in the coming weeks.
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