Harold Larwood - Duncan Hamilton

This book won the William Hill Sports Book of Year in 2009 and is one of the worthiest winners of the award.

 

The Bodyline cricket series is remembered as the only aberration to the greatness and near immortality of Donald Bradman ostensibly brought about by unfair means of bodyline bowling. The culpable men – Douglas Jardine and Harold Larwood.

Unfortunately for Harold Larwood, Bodyline is all most cricket fans associate him with and remember him for. Well not anymore. All thanks to his fellow Nottingham man, Duncan Hamilton.

In this meticulously researched and beautifully crafted book, Hamilton gives us a biography that a cricketer of Larwood’s stature truly deserves. Not only does he detail the pacer’s life before and after the cricket series, he also builds a convincing portrayal of what Bodyline truly was – a gladiatorial contest between a great batsman and a great fast bowler where the honours went to the latter. In doing so he debunks the commonly held belief that Jardine, Larwood and company used unfair means to stop the Don. The hero-villain depiction was also created because of what happened after the series – Bradman went on to become the greatest batman in the game while the English cricket mandarins did a quick about turn and banished Jardine and Larwood from the game, finding them guilty of tarnishing the game.

The passing years cemented this belief and the genuinely great quick bowling exploits of Larwood were lost and forgotten. Luckily, Larwood’s feats were recognized and applauded by most of the Aussies who played in the historic series. And that remains the greatest proof that Larwood was one of the greatest who delivered a performance for the ages.

The book traces Larwood’s journey from being a young Nottinghamshire miner to becoming the fastest and most feared bowler in the world, whose career and honour are ruined by injury, politics and an ungrateful cricket establishment, before he finds redemption and peace in Australia and amongst Aussies.

The book is full of wonderful anecdotes which make for fascinating reading.

 Duncan Hamilton is at times a little too sympathetic to Harold, but we can allow him a little leeway given that he is restoring the glory of a cricketer who got more than his fair share of bad luck.

He played a cerebral role in finding a chink in Bradman’s armour and creating a weapon to exploit it. This helps correct his historic portrayal as a dim lad who was Jardine’s lackey. The two shared a great relationship till the very end. Larwood had the highest regard for his captain and never blamed him for his miseries.

The two have never been given their due for being so far ahead of their time and doing something which has become an industry in itself today – detailed video analysis to study opponents and prepare for games.

One of the strengths of this book is Larwood’s detailed character sketch which paints Larwood as a proud and honourable man who always gave his best for king, captain and country in the most difficult circumstances. He was a principled man who refused to take the chance to resurrect his cricket career at the cost of his honour.

The study of Larwood’s post bodyline trauma is touching. He is completely overcome with a deep sense of extreme injustice and unable to come to terms with it. He shuns the world of cricket and is afraid of facing his past colleagues.    

His redemption is equally heart warming. He finds a new life in Australia and slowly reconnects with cricket and cricketers. The respect and admiration that he receives from his fellow cricketers does most of the healing.

Larwood was the worthiest adversary Bradman had and he was arguably the greatest fast bowler of his generation. In purely cricketing terms, he got the better of Bradman.  He stuck to his principals in spite of his hardships and will never get the recognition he deserved. Bradman got fame and used it to make money.  Duncan Hamilton has done his bit to make the long departed Larwood feel less aggrieved about life. He has done so by writing for Harold Larwood one of the greatest cricketing biographies if not the greatest cricket book of all time.  

Rating – This is a great book which deserves nothing less than five out of five.

Where you can buy – The hardcopy can be ordered from Infibeam.com.  It is fairly inexpensive.

Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer - David Winner

First a list of all the things this book is not about

This won’t give you all the records and statistics of Dutch football.

Doesn’t have a chronological history of the game in the country. Doesn’t talk in detail about all their great players, great matches or great clubs. To sum it up, this book isn’t the best preparatory material for a quiz on Dutch football. You might even end up in last place.

In that sense, it is quite unlike most of the books written about a country or a club’s football history and culture. In fact, the writer often goes on for pages without even talking about football, forget Dutch football. And yet, it is in my humble opinion ( as well as that of most people who write reviews on Amazon.com and goodreads.com) quite easily the best book on Dutch football.

Because David Winner’s book deals with something much more profound and goes much deeper in its investigation.

It talks about the mental makeup of the Dutch nation – why they are what they are?

It does a very good job of explaining a lot of other Dutch peculiarities – and I use that word because the Dutch are the antithesis of a conformist regular normal world. And in doing so it answers the questions about Dutch football. Why and how the Dutch came up with Total Football? Why the Dutch lose all the important matches? Why the players always get into fights? Why it is wrong to call the Netherlands the Brazil of Europe? The Dutch concept of nationalism and patriotism? And the Dutch definition of a good footballer?

If Dutch football was a living person then this book makes it very clear that the head is the most important organ; more valuable than the feet. And then it does what Freud would have tried to do – study the person’s head.

And that ways, the book is very aptly named. And David Winner has written a book unlike any other.
Two of the fascinating concepts that this book deals with are individualism and space – and explains that both are as much a part of the national fabric as of their approach to football. Individualism is not the freedom to do whatever he feels like but to retain a strong sense of the self while still keeping the collective in mind. And space is to create space where there is none – something the country below sea level does on an ongoing basis.

A special mention must be made of a very fine introduction by Franklin Foer who makes a very interesting analogy that the richness of football is like a cultural Galapagos.

This book is like a fine meal. You need to eat slowly and savor every morsel. It might bore the casual fan as he looks to read about the feats of the all conquering Ajax side of the early seventies. The least he is expecting is a chapter on the three consecutive European triumphs. But all he gets is bits and pieces, here and there.

But if he can soldier on, he will have the pleasure of reading one of finest books written on football. He will see the Dutch in a new light and might just become an Oranje supporter for life (The Dutch have been one of my favourite teams but after this book, I got an Orange jersey to wear during the World Cup)

You will not win the quiz but you will surely win the paper writing competition on Dutch football.
Rating – Five out of Five all the way.

An important anecdote. David Winner's book lost out in the 2000 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award to Lance Armstrong's, Its Not About The Bike. Given how things unraveled 12 years later leading to Armstrong's remarkable fall from grace, Winner probably deserves some sort of a consolation.

Where you can buy - This book is easily available with all the leading online retailers in India and not too expensive.