Cricketing Lives: A Characterful History from Pitch to Page PDF
Preview Cricketing Lives: A Characterful History from Pitch to Page
CRICKETING LIVES CRICKETING LIVES A CHARACTERFUL HISTORY FROM PITCH TO PAGE RICHARD H. THOMAS FOREWORD BY DANIEL NORCROSS REAKTION BOOKS Published by Reaktion Books Ltd Unit 32, Waterside 44–48 Wharf Road London n1 7ux, uk www.reaktionbooks.co.uk First published 2021 Copyright © Richard H. Thomas 2021 Foreword © Daniel Norcross 2021 All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library isbn 978 1 78914 371 3 CONTENTS GLOSSARY 9 FOREWORD 17 INTRODUCTION 19 1 LUMPY, MYNN AND SILVER BILLY Until the Mid-nineteenth Century 22 2 THE ‘GOLDEN AGE’, GRACE AND TRUMPER The Turn of the Twentieth Century 33 3 MORE GOLDEN AGE CHAMPIONS Victorians and Edwardians 43 4 GENTLEMEN, PLAYERS, VARSITY AND ROSES Background Developments 57 5 THE GREATEST RIVALRY Even Bigger Background Developments 65 6 GOOD FOR NOTHING AND NOBODY The First World War 80 7 GOVERNANCE, GROUNDS, GRANDEES, BOOKS AND BENEFACTORS Three Hundred Years of Organization and Altruism 92 8 BOXING, SOUND THRASHINGS AND THE BIG SHIP The 1920s 111 9 TOURING, TENNYSON AND ROLLO Still Mainly in the 1920s 121 10 ROOT, TICH, LEARIE AND SANDHAM The 1920s Become the 1930s 131 11 BRADMAN AND HAMMOND The Greatest, but for One Man 142 12 OLD FRIENDS FALL OUT The 1930s 152 13 NAYUDU, VIZZY, VERITY, GRIMMETT, GIMBLETT AND SMITH More from the 1930s 171 14 CRICKET ON THE CUSP OF WAR Even More from the 1930s 182 15 VICTIMS, SURVIVORS AND INVINCIBLES The 1940s 193 16 NEW STARTS, NEW STARS AND CARIBBEAN SKIES The 1940s and 1950s 208 17 BRYLCREEM BOYS More from the 1940s and 1950s 220 18 SENSITIVE SPINNERS The Mid-1950s 230 19 TIED TEST AND TUMULT The 1960s 239 20 SMALL CHANGES, BIG CHARACTERS More from the 1960s 252 21 SHORTER FORMATS, NEW STARS The 1960s and 1970s 262 22 PARADISE LOST, PARADISE REGAINED From the 1960s to the 1990s 272 23 THE HOLY TRINITY Nine Decades of Writers and Talkers 285 24 WORLD CUPS AND WORLD BEATERS From the 1970s to the 1990s 295 25 REVOLUTIONS AND REBELS The 1970s to the New Millennium 311 26 ONE MAN’S SALVATION 1981 324 27 WOMEN’S CRICKET A Century of Inequality 332 28 CRICKET WILL NEVER DIE A New Millennium 345 APPENDIX The Laws of Cricket at a Glance 357 REFERENCES 365 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 423 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 427 PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 429 INDEX 431 GLOSSARY Action – As in ‘bowling action’. The individual, often idiosyncratic way a bowler delivers the ball. All out – The end of an innings, when all wickets (usually ten) have been taken, leaving one batsman ‘not out’. All-rounder – A player adept at batting and bowling, or, sometimes, batting and wicketkeeping. Amateur – One who plays without pay. Very old-fashioned. Ashes – Small urn of dust contested by England and Australia. Asterisk – * Next to a batsman’s score means ‘not out’. Average – Measure of quality. The higher the better for batsmen, the lower the better for bowlers. Bails – Small pieces of wood on top of the stumps. Beamer – Head-high delivery that doesn’t bounce. Frowned upon. Big Bash – Twenty20 competition in Australia. Blazer – Formal cricket gear, often worn by captains at the toss. Blue – Awarded to those representing some universities at senior level.
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