Cricket Books

[neville cardus]

Originally Posted by Lillian Thomson

I've got this book on order and I'm looking forward to David Steele's contribution.

As well you should. He is a speaker in the league of Munchausen, full of self-appreciating self-deprecation, albeit with a penchant for inconsistency, repetition, exaggeration and anadiplosis. I loved his presentation of English Cricket's Six of the Best - The Seventies (although he played in only two of the matches featured) and have long been searching for Come in Number Three, his autobiography. Anyone here read it?

EDIT: To TT_Boy I should recommend the Stoddart- and Sandiford-edited The Imperial Game (1998), whose contributors offer scholarly analyses of cricket's growth in various outposts of the British Empire. In sating your irreverent appetite, meanwhile, you need look no further than Harry East's Heart of Yorkshire Cricket (1973), Laughter at the Wicket (1980) and Cricket is for Fun (1981).

[fredfertang]

I am afraid that when you finally track down "Come in Number Three" you will probably be disappointed - typical ghosted stuff written in the name of someone who has a sales potential but who's career is not over so he doesn't want to cause too much controversy - the story of his rise to the England team and his cricketing apprenticeship is actually quite an interesting one his having a brother (John) who played for Leicestershire and then Glamorgan and a cousin (Brian Crump) who had a long career for Northants not to mention Uncle Stan (Crump) who played as a pro in the leagues for donkeys years and who is treated in the book with such reverence that you gain the impression he was a better player than the lot of them put together. An autobiography now, or better still a biography by Stephen Chalke, would be a much better book.

[The Masterplan]

Ian Pont's ''Fast Bowlers BIBLE'' is a quality read

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

Can anyone recommend any cricket related books that actually don’t (intrinsically) focus upon the game itself and its nuances but rather on cricket’s cultural and social significance within society or upon the political climate of its era?

Most South African texts written since the country’s literature Black renaissance have used this approach and they are the cricket books I keep returning to.

Or any recommendations for any cricket books that are irreverent, away from the perceived norm of cricketing literature?

Cheers

The Willow Wand, might be one that you would enjoy

[pasag]

Found Alan McGilray's The Game Is Not The Same for $1 at a library sale in East Melbourne (posh library btw).

Very easy read, has the great anecdote of him missing the end of the tied Test to catch a plane with Keith Miller, a lot of stuff on Kim Hughes and captaincy (rating Bradman, Benaud and Chappelli as the best Aussie captains he showers praise on Bradman's technical abilities) and there's also some very interesting stuff on cricket as an art form, describing May and Greg Chappell as the two most attractive batsmen he'd seen. Also a fair amount of stuff on the commercialism of the game and you can pretty much swap ODIs and Twenty20s and Packer and the BCCI/IPL and it'd all be 100% relevant in today's cricket climate.

[SJS]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

Can anyone recommend any cricket related books that actually don’t (intrinsically) focus upon the game itself and its nuances but rather on cricket’s cultural and social significance within society or upon the political climate of its era?

Most South African texts written since the country’s literature Black renaissance have used this approach and they are the cricket books I keep returning to.

Or any recommendations for any cricket books that are irreverent, away from the perceived norm of cricketing literature?

Cheers

Two that immediately come to mind are CLR James's Beyond a Boundary - a classic, and to a lesser extent, Basil D'Oliviera by Peter Osborne. But then you have already mentioned that you are reading the South African books so may have read the latter.

In the Indian and sub-continental context, A Corner of A Foreign Field by Ramchandra Guha is really good. But you have to remember its the history of cricket in Colonial India and the context is historical. Many people find such reading heavy. I love love it myself but thought I should mention that.

I must emphasise that except for CLR James book the others are not exactly as per what you have asked but they are books not just about the cricket but tell a lot about the historical and social conditions prevailing at the times under discussion.

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

Can anyone recommend any cricket related books that actually don’t (intrinsically) focus upon the game itself and its nuances but rather on cricket’s cultural and social significance within society or upon the political climate of its era?

Most South African texts written since the country’s literature Black renaissance have used this approach and they are the cricket books I keep returning to.

Or any recommendations for any cricket books that are irreverent, away from the perceived norm of cricketing literature?

Cheers

You could try "Cricket and Race" by Jack Williams - South African affairs figure strongly although it is a book about attitudes in England - it can be a bit heavy going in places but is well worth a read - the thoroughness of the author's research certainly cant be faulted - in a book of a shade over 200 pages the bibliography then stretches into a tenth page - I don't recall offhand seeing another book with one anything like as long as that!

[pasag]

Anyone But England

I wanted so much to enjoy this book, as I had heard many good things, and it had proven to be very popular, being re-released and enlarged in 2005, with a number of reviews comparing it favourably with the classic Beyond a Boundary.

In the end I was quite surprised that anyone enjoyed this publication; it reminded me of a court case in which only the prosecutor was given the opportunity of presenting his case, and just to be nice he would then give a few little bits of testimony for the defendants. As if to say: 'I will save the defense the trouble and the court time, my Lord, by presenting their limited case as well as that of the prosecution'... Click here for more.

[stumpski]

Originally Posted by TT Boy

Can anyone recommend any cricket related books that actually don’t (intrinsically) focus upon the game itself and its nuances but rather on cricket’s cultural and social significance within society or upon the political climate of its era?

Most South African texts written since the country’s literature Black renaissance have used this approach and they are the cricket books I keep returning to.

Or any recommendations for any cricket books that are irreverent, away from the perceived norm of cricketing literature?

Cheers

The two Dave Podmore books (extract from one of his Guardian columns here) are a clever spoof on county cricket and an antidote to all the bland ghost-written autobiogs you tend to get now. 'Pod' is a boorish amalgam of Botham and Gatting (with touches of Larkins and Tufnell thrown in) but without a shred of the talent of any of them. Opinionated, deluded and complacent - he can also be tracked down on Youtube but works better as a literary character I think.

[stumpski]

Thought it would be interesting to read something a bit different - so I just picked this up for a fiver (inc postage). Will let you know what I thought of it in due course.

[fredfertang]

So what is the received wisdom about limited editions? Does it make a difference if there is an ordinary “unlimited” edition together with a tiny number of leatherbound signed and/or slipcased copies or it’s just a strictly limited number of copies?

Being a bit of a sucker for a limited edition would be interested to know what others think.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by fredfertang

So what is the received wisdom about limited editions? Does it make a difference if there is an ordinary “unlimited” edition together with a tiny number of leatherbound signed and/or slipcased copies or it’s just a strictly limited number of copies?

Being a bit of a sucker for a limited edition would be interested to know what others think.

Pretty rare to lose any money on LDT editions, there are ones like the Allan Border Beyond 10,000, where there were more copies printed of the LTD edition then the normal edition

Some of the LDTs like Ranji's Jub. edition are now worth a quite a bit

[fredfertang]

Yes I have heard of that – isn’t there a similar number of a leather bound limited edition of Mark Taylor’s autobiography? I cant believe these editions sell out but you don’t see them for sale with great frequency – were they remaindered on strict condition they were not removed to the northern hemisphere or are the publishers just hanging on to the surplus?

I was surprised they produced what in comparison was a mere 1,000 of that Shane Warne Illustrated thing and even that, which in comparative terms I would have thought would be quite popular, is still widely available.

What I really wonder about are authors who produce, say, 50 copies of something and sell it at, say, £50 a go when a “normal” run of 500 would sell for £5 a pop – if there is any literary merit in these items is it right they should be denied to the majority of collectors for reasons relating solely to the author's “kudos”?

Irving Rosenwater is a slightly different example in that the financial side is irrelevant – he was a terrific writer who produced many limited edition monographs in up to 100 copy runs (but usually 50 or less) – in particular in 1993 he produced a monograph about Douglas Jardine – 50 copies only, none sold (ie just given away to the cognoscenti) and if you want a copy now it will set you back around £500 – it’s an excellent piece but denied to so many.

[stumpski]

You'd know more about this than I do Fred, but I'd have thought the leather-bound Wisdens will be extremely sought after in a few years - they're not exactly cheap now. Do you have any?

[fredfertang]

No I've given them a miss up to now but have thought that was probably a mistake - they don't seem to come up so don't know the current value ............. so that probably answers the question!!!