Cricket Books

[neville cardus]

Originally Posted by archie mac

Talking of Cricket

About five years ago, I was quite happy to call that the finest cricket book that I'd ever read.

[stumpski]

Surprised nobody's reviewed 'Bodyline Autopsy' on here - one of the most important cricket books of recent years - and one of the very best. Archie?

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by pasag

Inside Story: Unlocking Australian Cricket's Archives

Looks fascinating.

Also..

I have my copy on order (signed), I understand CA were close to editing some of the more toughy subjects

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by stumpski

Surprised nobody's reviewed 'Bodyline Autopsy' on here - one of the most important cricket books of recent years - and one of the very best. Archie?

Yes a great book, I read it a few years ago, but I have read so many books on Bodyline I will get a bit mixed up on which book says what

It should be up on our site though

[stumpski]

I will get around to it in a week or three if you like, but I'd want to read it again. After 'Fatty' the next one I write for you will be David Foot's biography of Walter Hammond 'The Reasons Why.'

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by stumpski

I will get around to it in a week or three if you like, but I'd want to read it again. After 'Fatty' the next one I write for you will be David Foot's biography of Walter Hammond 'The Reasons Why.'

I wrote a very short review of that book, but a full one would be great to read http://www.cricketweb.net/content/bo...ewsIDAuto=1080

[stumpski]

Originally Posted by archie mac

I wrote a very short review of that book, but a full one would be great to read http://www.cricketweb.net/content/bo...ewsIDAuto=1080

Oh I didn't know that. I'm not sure I'd add a lot to what you've written there, but I'll give it a shot.

[Perm]

Has anybody read Mark Richardson's autobiography entitled "Thinking Negatively"? Seen it today but was a little on the expensive side.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by Perm

Has anybody read Mark Richardson's autobiography entitled "Thinking Negatively"? Seen it today but was a little on the expensive side.

Not in the shop here, which is a pity

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by neville cardus

About five years ago, I was quite happy to call that the finest cricket book that I'd ever read.

And where do you rank it now?

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by stumpski

Oh I didn't know that. I'm not sure I'd add a lot to what you've written there, but I'll give it a shot.

Either way mate, I hope you enjoy it, I loved it

[stumpski]

Oh I read it last year actually. Check your in-box btw.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by stumpski

Oh I read it last year actually. Check your in-box btw.

Oh, did not know, I only re-read a book once a year (Xmas time), a good one to re-read though

Got the review, reads really well, I will order a copy

[pasag]

Started Masters of Cricket and it had this great paragraph right at the beginning I thought I'd share:

I never saw Trumper bat; I was only a few years old when he died. But so often have I listened to stories of him, so often have I seen a new light come into the eyes of people at the mention of his name, so much have I read of him, that I am prepared to believe that nobody, before or since, ever achieved the standards of batsmanship set by Trumper. Sir Pelham Warner, Warren Bardsley, Vernon Ransford and others saw all the great moderns and near-moderns – Bradman, Ponsford, Hobbs, Hammond, Hutton, Compton, McCabe and the like – yet there was more than loyalty to their own generation when they cast their minds back over the years and said, ‘There will never be another like Vic.’

Many players, it is true, made more runs; but runs can never be accepted as the true indication of a player’s greatness. A fighting innings of thirty or so under difficult conditions is lost in cold statistics, yet its merits far outweigh many staid (and unnecessary) centuries that are recorded for all time. The longer I live, I am pleased to say, the less nationalistic I become. The outcome of a match is interesting but not, on the scales of time, of any great moment. What IS important is whether a particular contest gives to posterity a challenge that is accepted and won, or yields in classical technique an innings or a bowling effort that makes the game richer, so that the devotee can say years afterwards, with joy in his voice, ‘I saw that performance.’

[The Sean]

There are plenty of good judges who'd call Jack Fingleton the finest cricket writer Australia has ever produced, and reading that you can see why. A wonderful passage.