Harold Larwood

Author: Duncan Hamilton
Publisher: riverrun
ISBN: 1849164568
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 516

Book Description
Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, this is the first ever biography of Harold Larwood. Larwood, one of the most talented, accurate and intimidating fast bowlers of all time is mainly remembered for his role in the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-3 which brought Anglo-Australian diplomatic relations to the brink of collapse. Larwood was made the scapegoat - and despite the fact he was simply following his captain's instructions, he never played cricket for England again. Devastated by this betrayal, he eventually emigrated to Australia, where he was accepted by the country that had once despised him. Acclaimed author Duncan Hamilton has gained unprecedented access to the late sportsman's family and archives to tell the story of a true working-class hero and cricketing legend.

Body-Line?

Author: Harold Larwood
Publisher: ETT Imprint
ISBN: 192570632X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Book Description
(Author's Preface)I should like to state at the beginning of my book that what is stated in it on controversial matters is my own firm opinion, except where in a few cases the views of other people are published and their names given.I wish to make it clear that though there were, and are, sharp differences of opinion on the subject of Fast-Leg-Theory bowling between myself and some Australians, there was always an atmosphere of complete cordiality between the teams on both sides. Although we differ seriously over my Fast-Leg-Theory bowling I have done my best in the following pages not to disturb that atmosphere.Until now my side of the matter has not been heard. I have refused many tempting offers to break silence. As a fast bowler and a hitter by nature I have written strongly because I cannot express myself otherwise.I hope very much indeed that in doing so, though I was one, of the aggrieved parties in Australia, I have given nobody half the offence from which I suffered so often on the last tour.A belief exists that some of the things I have written about are not yet to be discussed.Obviously I differ from that view. I do so because I feel that in a matter of such vital interest to cricketers as the possible admission by legislation of such a far-reaching principle as that bowlers may not bowl as they like, no cricketer can keep silent. I believe I have only written here what very many cricketers are saying. But I have written supported by first-hand knowledge.For the many imperfections of style and language in my first book I beg the indulgence of my reader.Yours Sincerely,H. Larwood

The Black Lords of Summer

Author: Ashley Alexander Mallett
Publisher: Univ. of Queensland Press
ISBN: 9780702232626
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
The talented black cricketers who toured England in 1868 have become one of Australia's enduring sporting legends. Aboriginal sporting heroes are found in many sports today, from football to tennis, boxing and athletics, but it was very different in the nineteenth century when the pastoral frontier was still bitterly disputed by whites and blacks. Aboriginal workers on the Wimmera sheep stations began to develop and organise their cricketing skills during the 1860s and were recruited into a team by station owner and former Test cricketer Tom Wills. On Boxing Day 1866 they played before 8000 people at the MCG, followed by a disastrous Sydney tour which lead to the deaths of some players. Former test player Ashley Mallet has dramatically reconstructed this important pioneering tour of England and has also included the careers of later black players, including the famous fast bowler Eddie Gilbert who died tragically without fulfilling his potential.

David Gower’s Half-Century

Author: David Gower
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
ISBN: 1906850895
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Book Description
Former England captain and impeccably stylish batsman David Gower, himself inducted into cricket’s Hall of Fame, here takes a leap of faith and names his 50 greatest players of all time. Going back through the history of the game, he honours the finest run-getters, wicket-takers, glove men and captains he played with and against, as well as those he has been able to observe as a spectator or commentator, and legendary achievers from earlier eras. Full of first-hand recollections and anecdotes, this book is sure to delight – and occasionally infuriate – cricket enthusiasts everywhere. Who was the best of the great West Indian quicks? Have England heroes like Boycott, Pietersen and Flintoff made the cut? Who has been the greatest Australian batsman, post-Bradman? All is revealed in this lively and contentious celebration of cricket’s true greats.

Empire and Popular Culture

Author: John Griffiths
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 135102468X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Book Description
From 1830, the British Empire began to permeate the domestic culture of Empire nations in many ways. This, the fourth volume of Empire and Popular Culture, explores the representation of the Empire in popular media such as newspapers, contemporary magazines and journals and in literature such as novels, works of non-fiction, in poems and ballads.

Cricket's Greatest Rivalry

Author: Simon Hughes
Publisher: Cassell
ISBN: 1844038106
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
'Hughes takes us on a breathless tour through cricket history, the great players, personalities, matches and events. He never slackens pace or dwells on the dry details of the scoreboard.' - The Times From the William Hill Award-Winning author of A Lot of Hard Yakka comes Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in 10 Matches, a fast-paced, distinctive history of the iconic, 135-year-old cricketing rivalry between England and Australia. The new paperback edition is completely revised and updated to include the tumultuous two series of 2013-2014, which saw more more twists and turns in this enthralling contest. No other sport has a fixture like the Ashes. From the early 1880s the rivalry between these two great sporting nations has captured the public imagination and made sporting legends of its stars. Commentator, analyst and award-winning cricket historian Simon Hughes tells the story of the ten seminal series that have become the stuff of sporting folklore. Cricket's Greatest Rivalry places you right at the heart of the action of each pivotal match, explaining the social context of the time, the atmosphere of the crowd and the background and temperaments of the players that battled in both baggy green and blue caps. Simon starts his story at the very birth of the Ashes and tells the tale of the band of Australians that took on the best gentleman and players in the Empire's HQ and beat them on their home turf. That momentous occasion set the tone for some epic contests including: The thrilling 1902 Test at Old Trafford, which was one by a mere three runs. The incredible innings of Hobbs and Sutcliffe in front of a tense and packed Oval in 1926. The legendary 'bodyline' series of Jardine, Larwood, Bradman et al in 1933. The incredible run chase in 1948 that also saw Bradman's last test. England's reprise in the fifth test of 1953 when Lock, Trueman, Bailey and Hutton steered the hosts to a whirlwind victory. The fearsome pace attack from the likes of Lillie and Thompson that transformed the contest in the first Test of 1974 and shaped the Ashes as a tournament for decades to come. Botham's Ashes in 1981 that restored pride in a sports-mad nation. The match up at old Trafford where the magic of one Shane Warne sent shockwaves through the game. And finally the breaking of the Aussie stranglehold in 2005, when Flintoff, Pietersen and Vaughan did the seemingly impossible and re-established the greatest of rivalries. The book also includes complete statistics and records of all the Ashes fixtures and results and much, much more!

My Favourite Cricketer

Author: John Stern
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408131854
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 194

Book Description
My Favourite Cricketer features a selection of the finest writing taken from The Wisden Cricketer magazine. Top-quality sports writers and celebrated cricket fans fondly recall their most admired player past or present, and explain their choice of cricketing hero. The player selection ranges from the obvious choices - such as Trueman, Atherton, Gough, Tendulkar and Sobers - to the more intriguing or humble. Contributors including Gideon Haigh, Duncan Hamilton, Sid Waddell, Stephen Tompkinson and CMJ all present the case for their favourite cricketer and explain just what it is that makes them so special. Each piece is accompanied by stunning full-colour photography of the player in action. My Favourite Cricketer shows the breadth of cricket's enduring appeal and presents a record of the most cherished and larger-than-life characters.

Wisden Anthology 1978-2006

Author: Stephen Moss
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408197855
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 1469

Book Description
A definitive tome, essential to all cricket book collectors and Wisden readers. In the early 1980s Wisden published four anthologies that celebrated the best of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack stretching back to its first edition in 1864. Edited by the respected jazz musician, raconteur and cricket-lover, Benny Green, these volumes proved very popular. Wisden readers have long awaited a fifth, updated volume to cover the intervening period, marked by all-time greats like Viv Richards, Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Waugh, Brian Lara and Shane Warne. The Wisden Anthology 1978-2006 meets this demand, though it does not follow the style of the Benny Green volumes. Rather than selecting random highlights, Stephen Moss has edited this anthology with the aim of painting a coherent picture of cricket's evolution over the past 30 years. Quite simply it is a story of revolution, beginning in Test cricket's centenary year when England regained the Ashes, Geoffrey Boycott scored his hundredth hundred, Ian Botham took five for 74 on debut, and Kerry Packer's millions ensured the era of deferential players earning a pittance was over for good. Thirty years on, for better or worse, cricket has changed radically. The top players form a highly paid elite who rarely venture beyond the international arena; television calls the tune; the political balance of power has shifted towards Asia; one-day cricket in coloured clothing is ubiquitous; and run-rates rise inexorably while batsmen tear bowlers to pieces as never before.To the gnarled old pros of the 1950s the game must be unrecognisable. A genuine revolution, charted in 40,000 Wisden pages over the past 30 years, is now distilled into a 1,280-page anthology that selects the matches, players, events and controversies which ushered the game into a brave new century.

The Uncrowned King

Author: Jan Lindrum
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1326816853
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
They called him the maestro, the magician, the man with the golden cue. This is the story of an Australian icon: Horace Lindrum. The original Boy from Down Under. Lindrum's calling into the world of Billiards was marred by tragedy, war, family upheavals, and controversy. But nothing was going to stop him from securing 'the crown'. The Uncrowned King is an intensely human story. A story that captures the spirit of success, the tribulations of a truly extraordinary life and the metal of a man who epitomises the Australian way. A must read book.

The Promise of Endless Summer

Author: The Daily Telegraph
Publisher: Aurum
ISBN: 1781311323
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Whenever an august figure departs the world of cricket, The Daily Telegraph records a decorous tribute. There will certainly be an obituary – in days of yore penned by the doyen of cricket writers, E.W. Swanton, in recent times unafraid to be a lot more whimsical, waspish, and even extremely funny. There will often be an appreciation by one of the paper’s stable of cricket correspondents, such as Derek Pringle, Michael Henderson or Scyld Berry, most likely drawing on their memories of having played against the subject or watched his deeds. And sometimes a hero’s demise will prompt a heartfelt tribute from someone whose only qualification as an elegist is their own eloquence, as John Major displays on Denis Compton and Michael Parkinson on Keith Miller. And those cricket lives deemed worthy of memorialising need not be illustrious Test careers, though all the great names from Bradman to Bedser, Cowdrey to D’Oliviera, are here. They can also be quixotic county mavericks like ‘Bomber’ Wells, self-effacing professionals like Tom Cartwright and Derek Shackleton, or charismatic one-offs like Colin Milburn or the Nawab of Pataudi. They may not even be cricketers, but rather much-loved commentators and broadcasters like Brian Johnston and Christopher Martin-Jenkins, players-turned-umpires like David Shepherd and Bill Alley, or, like the Bishop of Liverpool who previously opened for Sussex and England, have made their name equally elsewhere. Their achievements are often hymned by their peers – Mark Nicholas on his Hampshire team-mate Malcolm Marshall, Tony Lewis on John Arlott, Colin Croft on Alf Valentine, and Simon Hughes on facing the fearsome Sylvester Clarke. Here, then, are more than eighty greats of the game – Australians and South Africans alongside Somerset yeomen and Yorkshire’s finest. For any cricket lover, this little book is an endlessly browsable testament to the sheer richness and variety of the cricketing life.