Next week we announce our Book of the Year. Today we have something unusual; Martin reviewing a book published by the ACS that is not a volume in the ‘Lives in Cricket’ series
Martin Chandler - ARTICLES
In this feature Martin looks at the life and times of a man for whom the great bowlers of the 1950s and early 1960s were just a warm up act for the real challenges that lay ahead
We hope all our readers have been given a cricket book or three for Christmas, and end our reviews for 2016 with a look at the most recent addition to the ACS Lives in Cricket Series
Cricket and cricketers from Norfolk have been the subject of more books than you might think, but this is certainly the first time that we have reviewed one here on Cricketweb
We sometimes wonder how Martin finds some of the things he reviews, and this one certainly falls into that category. He assures us that scouring the internet for obscure cricketing publications is actually quite normal, but no one here believes him, not even Archie Mac!
We are given to understand that Martin has batted on several strips of turf where, not so many years previously, Gordon Greenidge had done the same. Sadly Martin scored many runs fewer than Greenidge, but he still thought it a good excuse to write about one of the most punishing opening batsmen to have played the game
There is no shortage of reading material available for those interested in the late Richie Benaud. We haven’t got round to reviewing all of the books published about him last year, but have covered three now, all of which are well worth a read
Cricket writing’s answer to JK Rowling is featured this week with an excellent follow up, although the unimaginative title is a little disappointing – how about Brief Candles and the Philosopher’s Wisden for the next one?
Martin delivered this review before the second Test began on Thursday. We have little doubt that he will be disappointed that his closing assessment has been borne out by events