Gideon Haigh - The Book of Ashes Anecdotes

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licenced or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781780574394

Version 1.0

www.mainstreampublishing.com

Introduction, selection and commentary copyright Gideon Haigh, 2006; copyright in contributions reserved by individual copyright holders.

Preface and concept copyright Richard Smart, 2006

Foreword copyright David Frith, 2006

All rights reserved

The right of Gideon Haigh, Richard Smart and David Frith to be identified as an author of this work has been asserted by each of them in accordance with the United Kingdom Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published by Penguin Group (Australia) in 2006

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by

MAINSTREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY (EDINBURGH) LTD

7 Albany Street

Edinburgh EH1 3UG

ISBN 978 1 84596 257 9 (from January 2007)

ISBN 1 84596 257 5

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any other means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for insertion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

CONTENTS

Ashes cricket Test matches between England and Australia arose from the most auspicious of beginnings. The historic match itself in August 1882 at The Oval, in south London contained the highest drama, the chief immediate consequence of which was an hilarious spoof announcement. And a few weeks later came a classic romantic sequel. Thus was launched the greatest ongoing sporting contest the modern world has known.

The colonial boys who played under Billy Murdochs captaincy in that fateful match symbolised an Australian nation that still awaited formal constitutional establishment. During the late nineteenth century, cricket served better than any other pursuit to blend the aspirations of the jealous, squabbling states.

The colonial cricketers, still lacking a recognisable uniform, shocked the Mother Country with that seven-run victory at The Oval, to inspire, among many souvenirs, a latter-day poem by poet laureate John Masefield, re-registering the high drama. More significantly, and more lastingly by far, some English jokers were moved to pen a tongue-in-cheek memorial notice in TheSporting Times lamenting (for the first of so many times) the death of English cricket. They could never have guessed the full implications of the final line: The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

The romantic element came with the Melbourne society belles bright creation of the tiny terracotta urn containing the mysterious cinders: a bail... a ball... a ladys veil? Long may the mystique remain. One of the girls, Florence Morphy, fell in love with the towering gentleman who captained England, the Honourable Ivo Bligh, and their subsequent marriage forged one of the most appealing of AngloAustralian partnerships. Ivo became Lord Darnley, and after his death in 1927 Florence presented the delicate Ashes urn to Marylebone Cricket Club, who have displayed it at Lords ever since.

It is way beyond our means to calculate just how many million words have been penned and typed, and how much sweat and blood shed, in the cause of Ashes cricket. Not only the senior Test match series, it is also the richest by far in its tradition and history. It was only a matter of time before somebody came to the conclusion that some of the most interesting writings from the 124 years since Fred Spofforth stunned W.G. Grace and the rest of the Englishmen alongside the Kennington gas-holders should be gathered for our fascination and entertainment.

From the last years of Queen Victorias reign, through the carefree Edwardian era, across the Charleston years of post-war shock and gay abandon and the 1930s Bradman, McCabe, Grimmett, OReilly, and Hammond, Leyland, Verity years of swelling global apprehension, the cricket scarred by Bodyline but still free of commercialisation, on and on went the cavalcade. After the Second World War came dramatic Ashes years within living memory of many still alive, the profile changing gradually as society entertained fresh fads. While the fundamentals remained, the trimmings altered. Behaviour on and off the field of play shifted, not always attractively.

While the 1960s were dull in Ashes Test terms, the arrival of Ian Chappell and his ugly Australians livened matters, everything suddenly being turned on its head when the revolutionary World Series Cricket was launched in the wake of crickets greatest ever birthday party, the Centenary Test match in Melbourne in 1977. From then on money became the driving force which is not to say that patriotism was in any way diminished. Quite the reverse. It has sometimes become manic.

The modern era has seen an unprecedented grip on the Ashes by Australia, a lopsidedness that seemed for a time to threaten the credibility of the tradition. Michael Vaughan and his Englishmen put that right in 2005 in a series that, after careful consideration, was proclaimed the greatest Test series of all time, Ashes or not.

So, from all this it may easily be deduced that there is a super-abundance of Ashes anecdotage. To those who already know and love their Ashes folklore one would only have to mention some of the more colourful characters who have taken part in these battles over the years: for Australia Spofforth, George Bonnor, Arthur Coningham, Albert and Harry Trott, Ernie Jones, Warwick Armstrong, H.V. Hordern, Charlie Macartney, Arthur Mailey, Stork Hendry, Bert Ironmonger, Bill OReilly, Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Ernie McCormick, Sid Barnes, Lindsay Hassett, Keith Miller, Sam Loxton, Bill Johnston, Jim Burke, Bill Lawry, Wally Grout, Johnny Gleeson, Kerry OKeeffe, Terry Jenner, Ian Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Rod Marsh, Max Walker, Ashley Mallett, David Hookes, Rodney Hogg, Greg Ritchie, Dean Jones, Greg Matthews, Merv Hughes, David Boon, Shane Warne...

Pause to give the humour glands time for recovery and then reflect on some of the English characters W.G. Grace, Ted Peate, Billy Barnes, Will Scotton, Bobby Peel, Johnny Briggs, Archie MacLaren, S.F. Barnes, Bernard Bosanquet, Frank Foster, George Gunn, Patsy Hendren, E.R. Wilson, Cec Parkin, Douglas Jardine (no, not many laughs there, but no more interesting character ever played Ashes cricket), the Maurices Tate and Leyland, Tommy Mitchell, Eddie Paynter, Denis Compton, Freddie Brown, Fred Trueman, Tony Lock, Johnny Wardle, Ken Barrington, Ted Dexter, Colin Milburn, Geoff Boycott, David Lloyd, Tony Greig, Derek Randall, Ian Botham, Jack Russell, Darren Gough, Phil Tufnell, Allan Lamb, Freddie Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen. Theres enough talent and fun here to fill the vaudeville halls of both countries for months on end.

Just as central is the role played by the writers who have recorded the cricketers exploits and their character foibles. We owe an incalculable debt of gratitude to the likes of M.A. Noble, Ray Robinson, Jack Fingleton, A.G. Moyes, Neville Cardus and John Arlott.

Importantly, a word on the compiler of this absorbing compendium of England-versus-Australia anecdotes. Just as Shane Warne came along and rescued wrist-spin bowling when it was on the verge of global extinction because of the obsession with fast bowling, so Gideon Haigh has spared his generation from the serious charge of obliterating history.