British Empire was built. It took root and, as it did so, ceased to be an English game; each country played it in their own distinctive style. As the game spreads further, the focused aggression of the Australians; the Caribbean swagger of the West Indies; the suppleness of the Indians, may yet be joined by the national characteristics of the Afghans and the Chinese. If so, cricket will be the stronger for it.
The question that now arises is – whither cricket? The present growth of the game suggests confidence about its future from the grass roots upwards, with one reservation. The huge appeal of the shorter forms of the game – and the huge money-spinner it has become – means that cricket at the very highest level, five-day Test cricket, must be protected and cherished. It is, to my mind, the finest expression of the game, the peak of its art and, if it were diminished – or even crowded out – by mercenary considerations, then the game itself would surely suffer.
In its long history, cricket has been blessed with great literature: no game has ever attracted so many authors, or so much magnificent writing. In this book, Jonathan Agnew adds to this great canon, and draws on it to illustrate the evolutionary changes of recent decades.
This book is for every lover of cricket who wishes to dig deeper into the history of the game, through the words and sentiments of those who shared – or still share – their passion for it.
March 2013
Cricket, more than any other sport, has always lent itself to expressive colourful writing alongside intelligent debate – in the sports pages of our daily newspapers, over the broadcasting airwaves, through the pages of Wisden dating back to 1864 or, indeed, around the bar in the village pub. Such is the depth and complexity of cricket – spanning its history, politics and characters – that a single, universal view is extremely rare. Even such momentous events as Bodyline, the D’Oliveira affair and World Series Cricket were all strenuously argued about, usually from diametrically opposed positions.
The beauty of assembling an anthology such as this is that those opinions, assessments and descriptions can all be brought together in one place. So this is where we are able to read about and compare the lifestyles and characters of two of England’s finest fast bowlers, Harold Larwood and Fred Trueman; savour the deeds of opening batsmen Jack Hobbs and my old friend Geoffrey Boycott; consider first-hand reflections on Bodyline by Sir Donald Bradman; and enjoy a graphic description of the first tied Test between Australia and West Indies by Richie Benaud, who lost his wicket to the second ball of that frantic final over delivered by Wes Hall.
To be given the opportunity to sit, read and select extracts from the works of some of cricket’s finest writers and players has been a most rewarding experience. The modern game is so time-consuming – with matches coming thick and fast and increasingly demanding deadlines to hit – that it is difficult sometimes to sit back, take a breath and reflect properly on what has just taken place. However, a book provides the opportunity to include additional information that was not available at the time and that vital element of context, which can only properly be given with the passing of the years. I have frequently found myself surprised as new light is shed on a subject I thought I knew reasonably well. For the first time, for instance, we learn that Basil D’Oliveira was the selectors’ third-choice replacement for the injured Tom Cartwright in 1968; he was definitely not rushed into the squad for that ill-fated tour as the South African government believed.
I am delighted that this book has offered me the chance to explore, and now share, some of the most joyful, illuminating and elegant writing ever produced about cricket – without doubt the best sport in the world.
Jonathan Agnew, March 2013
‘I have sacrificed cricket’s most coveted job for a cause which I believe could be in the interests of cricket the world over.’
Tony Greig on his transition to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket
Tearful Batsman (after defying Umpire’s ruling). ‘All right, I’ll go! But it ain’t cricket. They wouldn’t do that at Lord’s.’
Chapter 1
‘I don’t want to see you, Mr Warner. There are two teams out there; one is trying to play cricket and the other is not.’
Australian captain Bill Woodfull’s disdainful response to the England manager’s suppliant knock on the Australian’s dressing room door during the 1933 Adelaide Test.
Given that cricket is supposed to stand for everything that is decent and upstanding in the world, it is remarkable how often down the years that the ‘sport of gentlemen’ has found itself embroiled in bitter controversies and rancour. It is also surprising how these disagreements quickly escalate far beyond the field of play – even in some cases leading to governmental involvement. Surprising, that is, until you consider the framework of international cricket, and how the sport was taken from the United Kingdom to the far-flung corners of the globe in the first place.
For that, we need to travel back to the time to what was supposedly the glorious age of the British Empire. Glorious for Britain, certainly, but not quite so much fun for those who suddenly found themselves conquered (‘discovered’ in some cases) and ruthlessly exploited as the developing European countries set about expanding their global trade.
Britain was not alone. The Dutch were particularly keen rivals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and evidence of their overseas occupations can be found on the cricket fields of Sri Lanka and South Africa today. Sri Lanka’s Burgher people are a Eurasian ethnic group formed by the union of predominantly Dutch settlers and local Sinhalese women. Angelo Mathews, the Sri Lanka vice-captain, is a member of the Burgher community. So too are Graeme Labrooy and the towering Michael Vandort, scorer of two laboured centuries against England in 2006 and 2007, who at six foot five must be the tallest-ever Sri Lankan Test cricketer. Meanwhile, descendants of the first Dutch colonists are regular members of the South Africa cricket team, and there is dedicated television and radio commentary broadcast throughout the Republic in Afrikaans, the guttural language that evolved from Dutch into a daughter language. Ewie Cronje, father of South Africa’s disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje, whose Huguenot ancestors took part in the Great Trek away from British rule in the 1830s, is one such specialist commentator.
The French and the Portuguese were also busily establishing overseas trading posts but following the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1815 Britain enjoyed a century of almost unchallenged dominance, to the point that by 1922 almost a quarter of the globe and a fifth of the world’s population was ruled by the United Kingdom. (It is worth bearing in mind that this did not include the United States of America, which had successfully fought for its independence by 1783.) Wherever Britain ruled, cricket was played, and all the Test-playing nations – Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe – were former colonies within the British Empire. All but Zimbabwe are still associated with the UK through membership of the Commonwealth.
Bloody conflicts were usually Britain’s answer to putting down local insurgency, and these have left deep scars in the history of the Empire. Britain was responsible for much of the slave trade that transported Africans in the most ghastly conditions imaginable to the Caribbean to work on the sugar plantations. While African slaves worked in the fields cutting corn, Asians were shipped in from the Indian subcontinent to become the white-collar workers of the time. The