Cricket Books

[Matt79]

Reading Jason Gillespie's 'autobiography' at the moment. Pretty prosaic, reads more like a tour diary - "played NSW, took 2/42, had a niggle in my back, needed a jab", is pretty much the gist of it. He seems to have generally avoided politics in his career, or at least in this account and his comments on other teams are what you'd expect - "good player, bit hard to find for a drink after the game". He does throw in a couple pf interesting lines that deviate from the team public lines at the time, but they're usually one off lines that only tantalize - he reckons a fair chunk of the dressing room were by the end of Taylor's batting slump unimpressed that he had kept his place and that Steve Waugh resumed bowling at the end of his career in a bid to stave of being axed, and was unsure whether the selectors had told him to do so and said he doubted whether it had been a good move for the team.

Does highlight how many injury concerns the poor bloke had and how often he played with niggles - something that given most autobiogs are of non-fast bowlers i hadn't appreciated enough probably. Haven't got up to 2005 yet, should be some interesting stuff there.

[SJS]

Originally Posted by pasag

As promised these are a list of cricket books up for sale. CW has first dibs then I'll put them on ebay. No set price, happy for anything reasonable. Also happy to ship o/s.


200 Seasons of Australian Cricket - Various
1882 - 1982 The Ashes Centenary Series - Various
The Joy of Cricket - edited by John Bright-Holmes
A Majestic Innings - CLR James
Farewell to Cricket - Don Bradman
Days in the Sun - Neville Cardus
Autobiography - Neville Cardus
Out of My Comfort Zone - Steve Waugh
Test Team of the Century - edited by Garrie Huchinson
The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers - Christopher Martin Jenkins
Bradman's Best - Roland Perry
The Summer Game - Gideon Haigh
Game for Anything - Gideon Haigh
Cricket's Colosseum, 125 years of cricket at the MCG - Ken Piesse
Caps, Hats and Helmets - Max Walker
All Out, the Ashes 2006/07 - Gideon Haigh
Peter the Lord's Cat and other unexpected obituraries - Gideon Haigh
The Don - Roland Perry
The Big Ship - Gideon Haigh
The Great Captains - AA Thomson
Endless Summer, 140 years of cricket in Wisden - Edited by Gideon Haigh
A Pictoral History of Australian Cricket - Jack Pollard
The Ashes, a celebration - Roland Perry
The Game is Not The Same - Alan McGilvray
Close of Play - Neville Cardus
Cricket All The Year - Neville Cardus
Cricket Gallery - edited by David Firth
Neville Cardus - English Cricket
WG Grace - Simon Rae
Beyond a Boundary - CLR James
Captain's Diary 2007 - Ricky Ponting
Wearing the Baggy Green, Australian Cricket Encyclopedia - Ian Ferguson
Match of My Life, The Ashes, 12 legends reveal their favourite Tests - various
An Australian Summer, The Story of the 1989/1990 Ashes Series - Christopher Martin Jenkins & Charles de Lise
A Fair Field and No Favour, The Ashes 2005 - Gideon Haigh
The Greatest Ashes Players - Murray McPherson
Pocket Wisden 2002/03
Flying Stumps - Ray Lindwall
According to Skull - Kerry O'Keefe
A History of Australian Cricket - Chris Harte
Cricket Kings - WIlliam McInnes
Miller's Luck - Roland Perry
Captain's Diary 2002 - Steve Waugh
On Ya Wanie - Ken Piesse
One Day Magic - Dean Jones (signed)
The Lion Bay, How Australia Defended the Ashes 1990-1991 - Phillip Derriman
World Cup Diary 1996 - Steve Waugh

Are these still available and what kind of binding is it? I could be interested in some.

[Matt79]

^^ It's livening up. He also says that both Murali and Akhtar are chuckers and said of the Aussie team he was a part of: "we're good front runners but that when things don't go our way, we lose our rag a bit too much. I think we've set such a high standard over the years that when we don't get the rub of the green, we carry on and spit the odd dummy".

Was also honest enough to label Pontings decision to bowl at Edgbaston in 05 as the worst call at a toss he's ever seen, together with Hussain's decision at the Gabba in 02.

And had another crack at Waugh regarding some 'selfish' decisions in his last year as skipper and his 'retirement' tour vs India.

And it has my new alltime favourite quote from an autobiography - "Being freaked out by monkeys became second nature to me."

[pasag]

Originally Posted by SJS

Are these still available and what kind of binding is it? I could be interested in some.

Most still there. All in good condition. Which ones were you after?

[aussie]

Originally Posted by Matt79

^^ It's livening up. He also says that both Murali and Akhtar are chuckers and said of the Aussie team he was a part of: "we're good front runners but that when things don't go our way, we lose our rag a bit too much. I think we've set such a high standard over the years that when we don't get the rub of the green, we carry on and spit the odd dummy".

Was also honest enough to label Pontings decision to bowl at Edgbaston in 05 as the worst call at a toss he's ever seen, together with Hussain's decision at the Gabba in 02.

And had another crack at Waugh regarding some 'selfish' decisions in his last year as skipper and his 'retirement' tour vs India.

And it has my new alltime favourite quote from an autobiography - "Being freaked out by monkeys became second nature to me."

Ponting decision to bowl first in that test has always been overexaggerated for me. Hussain though was certainly dumb.

[GIMH]

Interestingly though, apparently Waugh said he'd have bowled too, whereas at Edgbaston you can actually see Vaughan smile when Ponting chooses to bowl

[Matt79]

Originally Posted by aussie

Ponting decision to bowl first in that test has always been overexaggerated for me. Hussain though was certainly dumb.

Not with McGrath out.

[wpdavid]

Anyone here read Vaughan's latest?

[GIMH]

I've started it

[Matt79]

Halfway through Paul Barry's Spun Out. Think Archie's review on the site has hit a number of the nails on their head. I'm enjoying it, but I automatically get annoyed when the author tells you his conclusions at the start and then unapologetically structures his book to make the case for that conclusion. Not disputing the things he's said about Warne to date, but its the tone that somewhat annoys me.

On the other hand, its nice to read a book about cricket not written by an 'insider' where they're prepared to call a spade a spade and not worry about trying to stay sweet with their mates.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by Matt79

Halfway through Paul Barry's Spun Out. Think Archie's review on the site has hit a number of the nails on their head. I'm enjoying it, but I automatically get annoyed when the author tells you his conclusions at the start and then unapologetically structures his book to make the case for that conclusion. Not disputing the things he's said about Warne to date, but its the tone that somewhat annoys me.

On the other hand, its nice to read a book about cricket not written by an 'insider' where they're prepared to call a spade a spade and not worry about trying to stay sweet with their mates.

Yes I quite enjoyed it

By the way a review of the Dizzy book is also on the site

[Matt79]

Agree with that review as well. There's enough in Dizzy to make you feel there's a ripper autobiography to be had about the guy, but it falls well short of that.

[BoyBrumby]

From The Guardian.

Congrats to Duncan Hamilton who scoops the William Hill Book of the Year award with his bio of the Notts paceman and sometime Bradman nemesis.

Might be having a word with Santa as I don't own it yet.

[Goughy]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

From The Guardian.

Congrats to Duncan Hamilton who scoops the William Hill Book of the Year award with his bio of the Notts paceman and sometime Bradman nemesis.

Might be having a word with Santa as I don't own it yet.

Sounds well worth a read.

Anyone read The Bodyline Hypocrisy? Sounds terrible

[Uppercut]

Originally Posted by Goughy

Sounds well worth a read.

Anyone read The Bodyline Hypocrisy? Sounds terrible

Fredfertang wrote a review of it just this week. He really liked it.

Sounds like an interesting side of the debate in any case.