Swanton in Australia with MCC: 1946-1975 (1975) - SIGNED!

Second-Hand (Hardcover)

Excellent condition

SIGNED BY AUTHOR!

Nothing so excites the imagination of cricket lovers as the Ashes - that burnt cricket stump enclosed in an urn which symbolises the continuing rivalry of England and  Australia

Yet although E. W. Swanton has written at length both in his autobiography Sort of a Cricket Person and elsewhere of Tests between the two countries in England, he has recorded little of the pleasure he has derived from cricket in Australia.

This book attempts to restore the balance. The first of Jim Swanton's eight tours with
MCC was immediately after the war, when Wally Hammond's team suffered a 3-0 defeat against one of the strongest sides ever to represent Australia.

Bradman was still supreme, and a great fast bowling pair had arisen in Miller and Lind-
wall. Further defeat followed in 1950-51 under Freddie Brown, and it was not until 1954/5 that, in the 3rd Test at Melbourne, a young man called Frank Tyson suddenly took 6 wickets for 16 runs and Len Hutton's team was on the way to retaining the Ashes won in England in 1953.

During these years and the tours that followed cricket lovers in Australia saw many of the world's greatest players in their prime and many moments of high drama. Mr Swanton now recalls these events afresh, having, as Sir Donald Bradman adds in his lively introduction, freed himself from some of the restrictions which surrounded contemporary comment at the time.'

Yet, though there is plenty in this book to please the pure cricket enthusiast, as with all Mr Swanton's writing events on the field form only one of his many themes.

He  examines the 'special relationship' between Aussie and Pom, records sharp vignettes of the characters he has encountered, and casts an amused and amusing over the changing face of cricket and cricket writing.