Best cricket autobiography of players pre 90's era?

[TheGreatest]

Will appreciate if anyone can let me know the best autobiographies of players from the 80's and before. I was a bit disappointed after reading Viv Richards two autobiographies, had expected a lot.

 

[Zinzan]

Most of these are more modern, but I did find it quite interesting nonetheless Most controversial cricket autobiographies

 

[mr_mister]

There are some good biographies on Bradman, dunno if he ever wrote one himself

 

[mr_mister]

oh but I've heard Jack Fingleton's was awesome. Basically look for the ****s who you think would be able to write well. Nothing about Viv would make me think he'd be a good writer haha. I'd like to read one by Michael Holding tho for example

 

[OverratedSanity]

Obviously Arthur Mailey's. Beautiful book.

 

[fredfertang]

There are some good biographies on Bradman, dunno if he ever wrote one himself

There are two. There was one published in 1938 called 'My Cricketing Life' which isn't very good. In 1950 he published 'Farewell to Cricket' which is a lot better, although Bradman wasn't a man to court controversy. The best biography of him, and there are very many, in my admittedly slightly biased opinion is still Irving Rosenwater's - the others generally have something to commend them, although the Roland Perry one gets a few brickbats - have never read it myself though

 

[mr_mister]

haha as a kid I ate up Roland Perry books. He wrote one on Bradman choosing his own ATG XI in the early 00s that I loved, but after going back to it years later found it a bit shoddy. He seems so upset that Bradman chose a team that had a tail starting with Don Tallon and Lindwall at 6 and 7 and that he didn't want any discussion or arugment over it haha

 

[smash84]

Imran wrote 2. Imran and All Round View. Imran was just ok, nothing special.

All Round View was awesome

 

[TheGreatest]

Is there any good autobiography by Tony Greig & Ian Chappell?

 

[TheGreatest]

Imran wrote 2. Imran and All Round View. Imran was just ok, nothing special.

All Round View was awesome

Yes, All Round View was brilliant....wished it was more than 500 pages like Steve Waugh's "Out of My Comfort Zone"

 

[TheGreatest]

Thanks for recommending "Farewell to Cricket". I will surely check this out.

 

[fredfertang]

Is there any good autobiography by Tony Greig & Ian Chappell?

There are certainly two books on Chappelli - one is a 1989 book 'Cricket in our Blood' (In Australia it was called 'Chappelli') - better is a 2005 one he co-wrote with Ashley Mallett - title is 'Hitting Out'

As for Greig get David Tossell's biography - it's much better than the ghosted book that came out in the 70s. There's also a book his family contributed to after he died, but I've never got round to buying that - it's supposed to be pretty good

 

[TheGreatest]

There are certainly two books on Chappelli - one is a 1989 book 'Cricket in our Blood' (In Australia it was called 'Chappelli') - better is a 2005 one he co-wrote with Ashley Mallett - title is 'Hitting Out'

As for Greig get David Tossell's biography - it's much better than the ghosted book that came out in the 70s. There's also a book his family contributed to after he died, but I've never got round to buying that - it's supposed to be pretty good

Is 'Hitting Out' and 'Chappelli Speaks Out' the same book?

 

[fredfertang]

Yes I think so

I've got these three by Chappell as well, or at least he's lent his name to them, but they're not autobiographies

Chappelli - The Cutting Edge
The Best of Chappelli
Test of the Best

 

[Red]

This book was incredible, both as a story of a cricketer and an insight into the era he played in.

 

[nightprowler10]

Imran wrote 2. Imran and All Round View. Imran was just ok, nothing special.

All Round View was awesome

I actually really liked Imran. It was an interesting perspective from the man before he'd actually become a legend. I had heard mixed reviews about All Round View. Will have to check it out.

 

[Burgey]

There are two. There was one published in 1938 called 'My Cricketing Life' which isn't very good. In 1950 he published 'Farewell to Cricket' which is a lot better, although Bradman wasn't a man to court controversy. The best biography of him, and there are very many, in my admittedly slightly biased opinion is still Irving Rosenwater's - the others generally have something to commend them, although the Roland Perry one gets a few brickbats - have never read it myself though

Charles Williams wrote a very interesting Bradman bio. Quite a detailed look at him as a person rather than just a cricketer. I bit of it was based on supposition and theory rather than definitive fact (like the suggestion he suffered depression and anxiety) but overall it was a good read,and wasn't sycophantic.

Perry's is pretty ridiculous as a bio, though the way he goes through some of Bradman's deeds on the field is superficially entertaining, especially when he ties in recollections from team mates. The main problem with Perry's book, IMO, was because he had such close access to Bradman himself, he was almost star struck in his writing. It was a fair effort to put pen to paper with your head so far up another human being's arsehole.

Anyone got recommendations for Keith Miller bios?

Also, Brian Booth's autobiography was pretty good too.

 

[TheGreatest]

Charles Williams wrote a very interesting Bradman bio. Quite a detailed look at him as a person rather than just a cricketer. I bit of it was based on supposition and theory rather than definitive fact (like the suggestion he suffered depression and anxiety) but overall it was a good read,and sycophantic.

Perry's is pretty ridiculous as a bio, though the way he goes through some of Bradman's deeds on the field is superficially entertaining, especially when he ties in recollections from team mates. The main problem with Perry's book, IMO, was because he had such close access to Bradman himself, he was almost star struck in his writing. It was a fair effort to put pen to paper with your head so far up another human being's arsehole.

Anyone got recommendations for Keith Miller bios?

Also, Brian Booth's autobiography was pretty good too.

I too want to know if there are any books on Keith Miller and Alan Davidson?

 

[fredfertang]

I too want to know if there are any books on Keith Miller and Alan Davidson?

Davo just has an autobiography that was published way back in 1963 - Miller wrote plenty of books himself many of which are in part autobiographical - as for biographies there are three, one by Mihir Bose from 1980, one from his long time collaborator RS Whitington from 1981 and Roland Perry had a go in 2005 - great fat book that Archie has reviewed here - it's one of those that has a different title outside Australia - the UK edition was just titled 'Keith Miller'