Admirably Illustrated

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 506, 4 March 1949, Page 19

Admirably Illustrated

There is interest, too, in Reese’s account of his life as a businessman in New Zealand, with its dealings in cement and timber, and the running of sawmills and ships. He and his eldest brother and partner, T. W. Reese, cricketer and historian of the game, have never allowed the game to interfere seriously with their work. The book is admirably illustrated, Many lovers of the game, especially those of middle age, will be glad to add these photographs of teams and individuals to their collections. The photograph of "W.G." at sixty-four, going out to. bat, is worth the money by itself. R. C. Robertsoh-Glasgow’s "46 Not Out" is a very different kind of book. Whatever he may have been at the crease, he is a stylist in words, Most cricketing books are written by batsmen. "Robinson Crusoe," as he is called, was a bowler, and generally went in last. Charterhouse, Oxford, and Somerset were his sequence. He was good enough to play for the Gentlemen at Lord’s and dream of a "Trial" for England. What makes him important in the literature of the game is his social and cultural. background. Born in the old privileged class, he was at school when the first war began the shattering of its world, and he expresses his dislike of some aspects of the new world in witty and pungent English. He ‘approves, however, of the disappearance of an old public school system, in vogue when he went to Charterhouse, by which the housemaster was not paid a fixed salary, but was expected to make a profit out of the boys. Steeped in the classics at school and university, Robertson-Glasgow combines the fastidiousness of the classicist with a keen appreciation of varieties of character. There is some good cricket-Oxford-Cambridge rivalry, and the carefree play of Somerset, which is 'so far down in the championship that it can afford to " ‘it bloomin’ ’igh, bloomin’ ‘ard, and bloomin’

often." It also produced Jack White, a left-hand slow bowler for whom England would give its head to-day. The chief interest in the book, however, lies in the writer’s personality and the picture of the society he depicts. He cares nothing for popular reputations, and though he is a journalist (perhaps because he is) refuses to call Fleet Street "The Street of Adventure." He knows "an old man with a beard who is far more interesting than Mr, Bernard Shaw," and considers all streets exciting. He is one of the best cricket reporters in England, and, reading this, you will understand why. He has learned that dullness is a cardinal sin, but that brightness must keep arm-in-arm with fact. A book to be read for its lively cricket chapters and for what goes before and after. The slim centennial book about the Graces covers: familiar ground, but even those soaked in the subject may find something new here and there, There is a good deal about "E.M.," who was older than "W.G." and preceded him slightly in the revolutionising of batsmanship. Like "W.G.," he played till he was over sixty. Both were "characters"; "E.M." the more downright and unpredictable of the two. Annoyed by a barracker when he was batting, "E.M." left the wicket and chased the man out of the ground. Sixty years ago a Lancashire bowler, Crossland, caused a controversy like that raised by Larwood in Australia. After a scene at the Oval over this bowling, Lancashire played Gloucester, and Crossland’s first ball just missed "W.G.’s" head. When the crowd protested, Grace walked over to the noisiest section and told them he would have the ground cleared if there was any more of that. He then hit Crossland all over the field till he had scored a century, This sort of thing helped to make Grace unique in cricket history. "G.F." was the family’s tragedy. A fine batsman, bowler, and fieldsman, he lives in cricket history chiefly by a catch he took in the first test match played in England, which atoned somewhat for his two "ducks." But "though one were strong as seven, he too with death shall dwell"; a fortnight later "G.F." was dead at thirty. The only drawback to this record of the most famous of cricketing families is that the edition is limited to a thousand copies; why, we don't know. It will be surprising if a larger edition is not called

for.

A.

M.