Blood on the Tracks
Archie Mac |Published: 2024
Pages: 388
Author: Tossell, David
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 4 stars
The Ashes of 1974/75 was the first series I immersed myself in. At the age of nine I was still debating whether I would be a batsman or a bowler for Australia. This summer with the dominance of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson, I, like thousands of other young players, decided that the way to the national side was as a tearaway speedster.
David Tossell starts his book off with the defining quote that summed up the summer; Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, if Thomson don’t get ya, Lillee must! To Australians this quote summed up the cricket. It was all about the speed and intimidation of Lillee and Thomson, with the prevailing theory that the ‘Poms’ were scared. From the England perspective it was about underprepared and dangerous pitches deliberately doctored to benefit the Aussie speedsters.
Tossell does a commendable job of presenting both sides of the debate, with the book on the whole focused on the tourists and written for an England audience. For example, the score is provided with wickets last despite the series occurring in Australia. There are also a number of references to English soccer and politics. This caused me to hop on Wikipedia a few times, which is always enjoyable, especially when the main subject matter is so familiar. Tossell does well in weaving contemporary Australia into the narrative too. For instance, Tossell informs the series was telecast in colour, despite Australia not officially embracing colour television until March 1975. It made no difference in my family home, as we didn’t upgrade until 1976.
When it’s all said and done, and no matter how interesting the peripheral subjects, this book needs to be judged on the cricket coverage. In this respect it is first class. Tossell commences with all the pre-tour selection dramas. The main concerns were captain Mike Denness requesting the inclusion of fast bowler John Snow, from the selectors. It seems selector and manager Alec Bedser declined the request, for what appears to be reasons other than cricket – a la Sid Barnes. The other selection shock was when the polarising Geoff Boycott withdrew. Tossell highlights just how far society has come in understanding the impact of mental health 50 years later; some of the comments attacking Boycott for his decision would see a social media meltdown.
Once the tour starts, Tossell focuses on the impact of the fast bowling on the English team psyche. Unfortunately for the tourists, they had written off Lillee as he was coming back after a severe back injury, and Thomson as a fast bowler without control. The latter thinking was not that far off, as Thomson had written that if he didn’t know where the ball was going, how did the batsman have any chance of reading the direction.
In the end, the first time the English team ran into Thomson in the opening Test the series was all but over. With no helmets and the ball jumping off a length there was every chance of someone being seriously hurt. Unfortunately, so many of the tourists were injured that 41 year old legend Colin Cowdrey was flown in as a replacement.
Some of the England team admitted the scars from this series lasted the rest of their career, including the leading batsman of world cricket in 1974, Dennis Amiss. Captain Denness’s early form was so poor it lends to an amusing observation from the author after the captain had a temperature of 103 at the start of the tour – “there was much trauma ahead before Denness would register another century”.
The author appears to have interviewed everyone of importance in his research as well as referencing a number of newspaper writers covering the tour including; Henry Blofeld, John Woodcock, Jim Swanton, and Peter Laker. The last I was unfamiliar with, however the quotes in the book suggest he was bellicose. In the end the four authors quoted most by Tossell never wrote a book on the tour, with just Frank Tyson, who was living in Australia at the time of the tour, and Christopher Martin-Jenkins penning accounts.
While not in any way wanting to degrade the two contemporary accounts of the ‘74/75 series, Blood on the Tracks, written 50 years after the matches, must be considered the definitive book on the tour. It comes highly recommended and is a quality companion to Tossell’s book on the 1976 West Indies tour of England – Grovel.
I noted the number one book reviewer for Cricket Web, Martin Chandler, rightly awarded Blood on the Tracks – Five Stars. I churlishly deducted half a star for no index and also the lack of the cartoon that featured the Lillee, Thomson Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, caption. As I wrote – Churlish!
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