The Big Ship: Warwick Armstrong and the Making of Modern Cricket by Gideon Haigh

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Pages are sunned. Large format paperback.

Warwick Armstrong is the most significant Australian all-round cricketer of the twentieth century, routinely described as the country's W G Grace.

He was a dour batsman, a slow bowler so successful at restricting runs that some critics wished to ban him, an uncompromising captain who unleashed on England the first truly life-threatening pace attack (some were inclined to excuse Bodyline as a response to Armstrong's tactics).

He was no stranger to gamesmanship, sledging and, once in a while, outrageous cheating. He even foresaw match-fixing, and urged authorities to take remedial action. Contrary to popular belief, betting on cricket was widespread even at the turn of the century.

Haigh's trademark eye for character and detail makes this great cricketer and his context a fascinating subject for any reader interested in sport. The Big Ship is the definitive account of a cricketer and his era by one of the world's great sports writers. (publisher blurb)