Time of the Tiger: The Bill O'Reilly Story by R S Whitington

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Wear to book corners and edges. Foxing to foredges and front and back endpages. Small tears to dust jacket edges. Dust jacket is now in protective cover. Body text and binding are still very good.

Here at last is the first biography of one of the finest men and one of the finest cricketers who played for Australia. Statistics show that Bill O'Reilly took 144 test wickets with his leg spin and googly bowling, and a total of 744 wickets in 136 first-class matches, more than five wickets per first-class match. His hundred wickets against England were taken in record time.

Dick Whittington's fine descriptive writing on O'Reilly's magnificent test matches against England brings these statistics to life. Matches that include those of the controversial bodyline series. No England player or spectator in the 1930s who saw them will ever forget Bill O'Reilly's authority and his greatest bowling cobber, Clarrie Grimmett, imposed on their opposition. It was said that they were not satisfied with competing against England, so they competed equally seriously with each other.

The author has also thoroughly researched the history of the googly right from its pioneers - Bosanquet, Scharz and Horden in the first part of this book. (book flap)