Eleven: We Burn Them in the Sun
Martin Chandler |Published: 2026
Pages: 328
Author: Ryan, Christian
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Rating: 5 stars
I have seldom had such a problem knowing how to begin a review before, but then I have certainly never read a book that is remotely like this one. To use the author’s own words if you can sum up in a word or sentence what a book is about then it’s probably not worth writing.
Which at least gives me an excuse to wax lyrical. So let’s start with the title, Eleven. It is of course a number that means a great deal to cricketers, and on this occasion it refers to the number of individuals who are the main subjects of the book.
Not that the book is a collection of eleven biographical essays – it is absolutely nothing like that, but more of that anon – for now I’ll identify the eleven who, for want of any better approach, I will look at in alphabetical order by surname
The first is a Trinidadian, Donna Carmino, whose international career comprised a single appearance for the International XI that was competing in the first cricket World Cup, the women’s edition of 1973. Carmino spent half an hour at the wicket against hosts England. Despite that occupation of the crease she was out without, as we say here, ‘troubling the scorers’ as her side crashed to defeat by 135 runs.
And then there is Jane Joseph, or more accurately three Jane Josephs, from Grenada, London and Trinidad respectively. None of them have achieved a grat deal of fame, but the Trinidadian incarnation, with bat in hand, is the subject of a familiar photograph. Her overall cricket record is modest, but she starred in a Trinidadian win over England in the World Cup in which her countrywoman Carmino was playing for the International XI.
John Maley wasn’t a First Class cricketer at all. He was a groundsman, and the man responsible for the World Series Cricket drop in pitches. Like all of the other men and women featured his life inside and outside the game has been far from straightforward
A man whose story I was familiar with before I opened Eleven: We Burn Them In The Sun is Frank Parr. A prodigiously gifted wicketkeeper who was close to selection for England’s tour of the West Indies in 1953/54 Parr left the game the following summer as his way of life, he was an equally talented jazz trombonist with a Bohemian lifestyle to match, did not sit comfortably with his county captain, the autocratic Cyril Washbrook, known to Parr as ‘Wanker’.
Another Trinidadian, Shervan Pragg, was killed in a road accident in 1982 at the age of 20. A gifted all-round cricketer and particularly a left arm wrist spinner had he stayed at home that day he might well have been good enough to change the make up of the all out pace attacks that the West Indian sides of that era almost always deployed.
Next up is the only well known Test cricketer to play a major role in the book. The mercurial Pakistani batsman of the 1970s and 1980s, Wasim Raja. In his 57 Tests Wasim achieved much over a fine career whilst at the same time doing so in a manner that suggested he could have done more. He was out of Test cricket at 32 and died at the wicket in a club match at 54.
Ray Robinson, the most distant figure in time in the book, played once for Australia in 1936/37. He was by no means the first Australian batsman to be compared favourably and hopefully to the legendary Victor Trumper, but his career at the highest level foundered as a result of a troubled life and, it is easy to see from this distance, PTSD caused by his experiences in World War Two.
Unusually for one of Ryan’s subjects Padmakar Shivalkar’s First Class career spanned three decades, albeit his last two appearances for what was then Bombay came seven years after what he must have thought would be his last appearance. A highly skilled orthodox left arm spinner Shivalkar spent his long career in the shadow of Bishan Bedi.
Ken Vowles is the youngest man featured in the book. A highly talented cricketer from the Northern Territory. In 1989/90 Vowles played three times for Australia in Under 19 Tests against England which was, sadly, the high watermark of a career that never saw him progress further.
Which leaves the man who begins the book, John Watkins. Like Ray Robinson a one Test wonder wrist spinner Watkins had a remarkable rise from nowhere to a Test cap against Pakistan and a place in the party that toured the Caribbean under Ian Chappell in 1972/73. A game against the Windward Islands at the end of that tour was the final one of just ten career First Class appearances for Watkins, all of which took place within the space of 14 months.
Books that consist of short biographies of cricketers and cricket people in whose lives the interest lies as much in their characters and what they achieved outside the game as their on field records have produced some excellent books, David Foot’s Fragments of Idolatry and Beyond Bat & Ball being two of the very best. Eleven: We Burn Them in the Sun is right up there with them, but at the same time other than the basic premise is not even remotely similar.
Christian Ryan might have, like David Foot did, followed the straightforward route of producing a separate chapter on each of the disparate individuals he considers, and still produced a fascinating book. But there is none of that. In fact there are no separate chapters at all the book being a single continuous narrative, moving from one subject to another as a result of a common thread being found, usually by virtue of the at times extraordinary lengths Ryan has gone to in his research.
The result is a book that is a challenging read, and most certainly like nothing else I have read on the subject of cricket or indeed anything else. But on the ‘no pain no gain’ principle Eleven: We Burn Them in the Sun is an engrossing and rewarding experience from a man who I sincerely hope does not keep us waiting another decade for his next book.
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