Cricket Books

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by nightprowler10

Thanks for that. I wish there were more Pakistani players' biographies out there that were worth a read. The Wasim and Waqar one, as Archie said, doesn't go far enough into their careers, so I might give it a miss. Have you read Miandad's The Cutting Edge by any chance?

I have a couple that I want to read, one is about Fazal, and the other about 'Z', the latter is written with David Foot so should be worth a read as he is a fine writer

[nightprowler10]

Originally Posted by archie mac

I have a couple that I want to read, one is about Fazal, and the other about 'Z', the latter is written with David Foot so should be worth a read as he is a fine writer

Ooh, would love to read the one about Fazal and would definitely enjoy reading about Zaheer as well. I'll look those up and add them to my wishlist.

SJS, what were your thoughts about the Miandad one?

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by nightprowler10

Thanks for that. I wish there were more Pakistani players' biographies out there that were worth a read. The Wasim and Waqar one, as Archie said, doesn't go far enough into their careers, so I might give it a miss. Have you read Miandad's The Cutting Edge by any chance?

I have autobiographies by A H Kardar, Mushtaq and Hanif Mohammad and Waqar Hasan - I've only read Mushtaq's but enjoyed that

I also have a slim volume about Mudassar Nazar - there is a similar one about Wallis Mathias which I don't have and have never seen but I'll track a copy down one day!

[SJS]

Originally Posted by nightprowler10

Ooh, would love to read the one about Fazal and would definitely enjoy reading about Zaheer as well. I'll look those up and add them to my wishlist.

SJS, what were your thoughts about the Miandad one?

Its about average. I think a better writer would have done a better job. I haven't read it from cover to cover but I have read most of it in bits and pieces. It doesn't hold my attention and this, the way I have read it, is probably an indicator of that.

[armchairumpire]

Originally Posted by archie mac

Yes, that would be great

And also, a long, long, long, time ago, you were going to review the Ian Chappell book

Yep you're right. Would be a pleasure! Will get on to that this week.

[archie mac]

Originally Posted by armchairumpire

Yep you're right. Would be a pleasure! Will get on to that this week.

Cheers

[archie mac]

New review up about the 'new' game of 20/20 http://www.cricketweb.net/cricketbooks/5371.php

[stumpski]

I recently took delivery of a 1947 Wisden - just two more needed for a post-war set - and noticed several adverts for books in the early pages. Three of them were works by Sir Pelham 'Plum' Warner, of which the one that interested me most was 'Lord's 1787-1945.'

Now I haven't read anything by Warner, and I might be doing him a disservice, but I imagine he wasn't the most scintillating of writers, and said book might anyway have been superceded by Tony Lewis's offering of 1987. Has anyone read anything by him, and is his stuff worth tracking down?

[fredfertang]

Your instinct is quite correct David - some of his early tour books (those written in his playing days) are worth a few quid but his writing is just what you would expect of the "bodyline appeaser" - not a hint of controversy anywhere and he's no literary giant either - writing with nothing other than a good solid forward defensive I am afraid

[stumpski]

Sounds like Alistair Cook's recent effort then!

[SJS]

Originally Posted by stumpski

I recently took delivery of a 1947 Wisden - just two more needed for a post-war set - and noticed several adverts for books in the early pages. Three of them were works by Sir Pelham 'Plum' Warner, of which the one that interested me most was 'Lord's 1787-1945.'

Now I haven't read anything by Warner, and I might be doing him a disservice, but I imagine he wasn't the most scintillating of writers, and said book might anyway have been superceded by Tony Lewis's offering of 1987. Has anyone read anything by him, and is his stuff worth tracking down?

I have the following books by Warner.

1. My Cricketing Life
2. Lord's - 1787-1945
3. How We Recovered the Ashes (MCC in Australia 1903-04)
4. FIGHT FOR THE ASHES IN 1930, THE
5. ENGLAND V AUSTRALIA 1912
6. Cricket Reminiscences
7. Cricket Between Two Wars
8. Cricket
9. Book of Cricket, The

He is not a great writer but he brings a great historical perspective. He often claimed to have watched more first class matches and more Test matches than any man alive and no one disputed it in his time. I give great preference to reading the accounts of those who write from personal experience than those who write from research done many decades later and perhaps from accounts like those of Warner.

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by stumpski

Sounds like Alistair Cook's recent effort then!

surely you found his account of being a cathedral chorister absolutely compelling?

[stumpski]

Originally Posted by fredfertang

surely you found his account of being a cathedral chorister absolutely compelling?

He looks as if he could still be one, doesn't he ... no, I haven't invested in it I'm afraid - just going on a recent review which panned it as being bland and 'shamefully premature.' How old is he, 23?


SJS, you probably own as many of Warner's books as anyone - I didn't even know he'd written as many as nine - I'll have a look for them in the Oval library next season (they have a loan facility there).

[SJS]

Originally Posted by stumpski

He looks as if he could still be one, doesn't he ... no, I haven't invested in it I'm afraid - just going on a recent review which panned it as being bland and 'shamefully premature.' How old is he, 23?


SJS, you probably own as many of Warner's books as anyone - I didn't even know he'd written as many as nine - I'll have a look for them in the Oval library next season (they have a loan facility there).

Do not expect a great piece of writing.

To me reading books written by people who played the game over a century ago is to be transported into a different time. One of my greatest pleasures was to read Jessop's autobiography, A Cricketer's log. It was , to me at least, as if Jessop was sitting across from me talking to me directly. For me that is a priceless experience which just can not be got through reading his biography, however well researched, by a latter day writer who never saw him play.

By the way, there is a sequel to Warner's Lords 1787-1945, Diana Rait Kerr's Lord's 1946-1970. If you buy Warner's book, I would strongly suggest buying Rait Kerr's book too.

[fredfertang]

Originally Posted by stumpski

He looks as if he could still be one, doesn't he ... no, I haven't invested in it I'm afraid - just going on a recent review which panned it as being bland and 'shamefully premature.' How old is he, 23?

Doh!! You forced it out of me that I bought it - what a cross-examiner - have you considered a career in the law David?

My only defence is I am a collector so I had to have it