by Mayukh Ghosh
July 1905. Headingley. Australia v England.
Australia’s first innings: VT Trumper b Warren 8
Australia’s second innings: VT Trumper c Hirst b Warren 0
Arnold Warren played only one Test match for England. Besides Trumper, he dismissed the likes of Armstrong, Darling and Noble.
About forty years later, he found himself in Codnor, watching a boy make 40.
In John Shawcroft’s words: “He saw the best of the game in dismissing Trumper and the worst in my 40.”
Soon, Shawcroft found himself in Trent Bridge, watching Bradman bat.
And the likes of Hutton and Compton fighting it out against Miller.
The love for cricket grew and he was often found watching County Championship matches all over England.
He became a journalist, editing weeklies for over 30 years.
It has been more than fifty years since he began writing on cricket. Most of his writing concentrates on Derbyshire CCC and its cricketers.
He has just finished writing a history of the club, to commemorate the 150th anniversary. It should be out later this year.
Shawcroft has been reading on the game for about seventy years.
When I requested him to share the names of his favourite cricket books, he chose to select twelve of them.
“In selecting these 12 books I have adopted the simple yardsticks of depth of knowledge, readability and literary quality. All are treasured possessions, offering varied looks at the different aspects of the game and would make a sound base for the start of any cricket library.”
Here they are, with descriptions in Shawford’s own words
Richard Binns – Cricket in Firelight, Selwyn & Blunt Limited 1935
Recollections during the winter months, in Binns’s case before a roaring coal fire, is part of the game’s charm and this book takes us back to the Tests and Roses clashes of long ago. In my opinion its highlight concerns the 1902 Test series in which Australia beat England 2-1 in a rubber which could easily have gone the other way.
Dudley Carew – To the Wicket, Chapman and Hall 1946
Here Carew takes us on a journey through the counties in the inter-war period, evoking the great days of the Championship during the 1930s with first-hand knowledge of having covered the period for The Times.
John Arlott – Vintage Summer 1947, Eyre and Spottiswoode 1967
THE voice of summer charmed cricket lovers for some 35 seasons of radio and television commentary but he also made a major contribution to the game’s literature. His books are treasured possessions - biographies, Test matches and tours and his Cricket Journals, 1958-61. Many consider Fred, his biography of Trueman, as his best work but I have chosen Vintage Summer 1947. From the chill winds of Worcester, when the South Africans began their tour, through the incredible batting feats of Compton and Edrich and the blistering hear of July and August Arlott tells a memorable tale of the game’s true re-awakening after the 1939-45 war.
Jack Fingleton – Brightly Fades The Don, The Pavilion Library 1985
An acclaimed journalist and author, Fingleton writes with a vast corpus of knowledge having been a successful opening batsman with Australia during the 1930s, when he played alongside Bradman in several series, including the Bodyline. His compelling account of Bradman’s 1948 triumph is a book to re and re-read.
Neville Cardus – The Roses Matches 1919-1939, Souvenir Press 1982
Matches involving the Big Six counties – Lancashire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Middlesex, Surrey and Kent – produced cricket of a quality seldom matched in the Championship. Here is a collection of the author’s daily reports on the Bank Holiday clashes between Lancashire and Yorkshire in which he vividly brings to life days such as August Bank Holiday Monday 1926 when 45,000 packed Old Trafford and the total attendance, 76,617, was the third highest at a county match, exceeded only by Surrey-Yorkshire 80,000 at The Oval 1906 and the 1904 Headingley Roses match, 78,792.
Patrick Murphy – The Centurions from Grace to Ramprakash, Fairfield Books 2009
This work, by an accomplished writer and broadcaster, offers detailed and beautifully written profiles of the 25 batsmen who have scored 100 first-class centuries
Stephen Chalke – Summer’s Crown: The Story of Cricket’s County Championship, Fairfield Books 2015
Although I have enjoyed many Test match days on all the major English grounds and some memorable one-day encounters involving Derbyshire, the County Championship has provided the staple diet. Roy Webber’s history was an early favourite and then Robert Brooke’s 1991 work upgraded this. Stephen Chalke’s masterpiece marked the 125th anniversary of the official competition, writing of the highest quality eloquently capturing the flavour of county cricket. With Brooke’s work alongside there is little else you need for a comprehensive look at all the counties.
Gideon Haigh – The Cricket War, John Wisden & Company Ltd 2017
Anything by Gideon Haigh is worth reading and this account of Kerry Packer’s World Series provides a gripping account of the split that changed the game and produced some of the toughest cricket in history.
David Frith – Bodyline Autopsy, Aurum Press 2002
The definitive account of the controversial 1932-33 series finds David Frith at his best. It is always difficult to freshen up a topic which has previously received extensive coverage but Frith (although, of course, the series was before his time) calls upon extensive knowledge of the players, such as Bradman and Larwood in a fine book.
John Major – More Than a Game: The story of cricket’s early years, HarperCollins 2007
Long acknowledged as a cricket lover with an eye for the game’s history the former Prime Minister offers the definitive work on cricket’s dawn, carrying the tale through to the end of the Golden Age and beyond. Informative and readable, it has the advantage of a vast corpus of knowledge from such authorities on early cricket as John Goulstone, Roger Packham and others.
AA Thomson – The Golden Ages, The Sportsman’s Book Club 1962
An entertaining and knowledgeable writer on the game, Thomson produced many excellent books, including a definitive history of the Roses matches. In The Golden Ages he traces the history of the game from Hambledon to the 1960s with special emphasis on the Golden Age, considering the England team which took the field in the first two rain-ruined Tests of 1902 as their strongest-ever - MacLaren (captain), Fry, Tyldesley JT, Ranjitsinhi, Jackson, Braund, Jessop, Hirst, Lilley (wicketkeeper), Lockwood and Rhodes - as the best team England fielded.
Simon Wilde – England The Biography, Simon & Schuster 2018
With a wide experience of covering England’s Test team for the Sunday Times Simon Wilde is ideally cast as the chronicler of its fortunes since 1877. It is a broad subject with a vast literature, but this is no slavish journey through the series but an in-depth look at all aspects of the England team and its history.
John Shawcroft’s choices are varied and interesting.
Most of his own books are must-haves in any cricket library. Local Heroes, his book on the victorious Derbyshire team from 1936, is perhaps the best among them all.
It is a book worth hunting down. As are most of the books he has chosen as his favourites.