A History of Australian Cricket

by Chris Harte, Richie Benaud (Introduction)

A History of Australian Cricket was first published in 1939, when Australia was just beginning to dominate world cricket for a fourth time. Since then they have proved themselves masters of both the one-day and five-day versions of the game. This book examines the beginnings of the Australian game in the early nineteenth century and demonstrates the influence of English touring teams of the 1860s and 1870s and the coaches they left behind them. They enabled Australia to challenge England on equal terms by 1876-77. Throughout this book, cricket events are richly counter-pointed by background arrangements (and feuds) between the Board and State Associations and the remarkable career of Sir Donald Bradman is chronicled in detail - he was not only the greatest batsman ever but also a superb administrator. Taking in the Bodyline Tour and all others inbetween, this book provides unique insight into Australian cricket history right up to the modern day and amply demonstrates how the Australian Cricket Academy, which opened its doors in 1981, laid the foundations for Australia's current pre-eminence. this is the story of their journey to the top.

799 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Chris Harte


Chris Harte has been writing and reporting on sport for nearly thirty years. His initial cricket book, 'The Fight for The Ashes,' was published in 1982, and in 1987 he won his first literary award, for the highly-acclaimed 'The History of The Sheffield Shield.' Two years later he again won literary recognition for 'Two Tours and Pollock,' the story of an Australian cricket tour of South Africa. His last major cricket work, 'A History of Australian Cricket', was first published in 1993, and has proved to be so popular that a new revised edition has recently been printed.

During the 1990s he wrote four distinctly esoteric books on the life of a sports journalist, which included all the daily trials and tribulations of running a sports reporting service. His connection with 'Rugby Times' needs no explanation, although he is still a senior partner in 'National Sports Reporting,' the London based sports agency.

Chris Harte has been married for so long he has forgotten the names of most of the people who attended his wedding. He, his wife and their cat live in both London and Yorkshire.

Paraphrased from "About the author" in Britain's Rugby Grounds

Reviews

[Richard Olney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think what i will retain from this book is that the success the Australian teams have had over the years is as much despite than because of the administration. I don't suppose that's unusual but it's clear that at various stage the players or the spectators or the other nations and at times the administrators themselves were not looked after as well as they might have been.

This isn't a match by match survey and the pen portraits are limited to the heroes and villains but there is still a lot of detail.

The chapter on the Bodyline series is short but still as good as much of what i've read and seen before. Similar detail is given to the "Golden Age" and i'm especially impressed at how balanced the reporting of how World Series Cricket came about and what happened next. Often, it's obvious where the writer's sympathy is when i read about this subject which even now, almost fifty years later seems to retain its significance and not just for Cricket in Australia.

There are heroes in the book though i would say the character that stands out that most is first just Our and then Sir Donald Bradman. His playing record is still so much better than anyone before or indeed since, and his attention to the administrative role he fully moved into after stopping playing is very very impressive. I hadn't appreciated quite how important Bradman was to Australia's move away from being just a colony of the UK to having its own place in the world. He wasn't universally popular however and this book doesn't shy from saying so though there isn't too much on why.

While i did read this book from cover to cover, i imagine my future use of the book will be in dipping in to particular chapters, again the ones on Bodyline, and World Series Cricket are very good.