On the right wicket

SOME years ago, Ramachandra Guha was one of the two editors of an anthology of Indian cricket literature where, at the end of the Introduction, it was hinted more might be forthcoming.

This, though, is not it. The book under review, produced in England by the house of Macmillan, is not restricted to Indian cricket but has a much wider orbit. Notable cricket anthologies appear every few years, but this is the first one to come out since the game gathered disrepute last year, with the uncovering of the match-fixing scandal. In a way, this volume takes on a challenge on behalf of cricket: to restore people's faith in the genus of cricketers, with a presentation of the great performers and personalities of the past.

The book has an artistic dust-jacket, with a tinted illustration of W.G. Grace and the Australian, Billy Murdoch, in their London County days, 100 years ago. For this reason, it is unlikely to be of immediate appeal to the younger generation of cricket-lovers. The volume is divided into five sections, and there are nearly 80 prose pieces, punctuated with six well-chosen verse selections. The editor has thrown his net far and wide and come up with an interesting variety. Sometimes, he has found it necessary to add sub-titles, "The American Lillee" to Ralph Barker's sketch of the great Philadelphian swing bowler, J. Barton King; and "The Fijian Botham" to Philip Snow's portrait of the island batsman, Bula. Presumably, they are meant to place past cricketers in near- current contexts.

But there is a complaint, first, about the book's design. The extracts are preceded by the editor's observations, in bold print. On p.219, where editor Guha writes of Sachin Tendulkar, the right-hand page ends "Here an English and an Indian writer offer their own assessments." Then you have to turn the page to go into the sub-section. There is a similar, somewhat irritating situation at the bottom of p.329, where the editor introduces a piece by Jack Fingleton, but the extract mentioned does not begin there. Constraints of space are understandable, but a little imagination counts.

In all, over 40 authors are featured, with there being six pieces by Sir Neville Cardus and six by Fingleton. Perhaps there should have been a cap of four per writer? Readers here will naturally want to know about Indian representation: chosen are N. S. Ramaswami, Sujit Mukherjee (a fine piece, in the section "Little Heroes", about a Jesuit padre) and Suresh Menon - to which one might add the United Kingdon-educated, United States-based Tunku Varadarajan, who writes evocatively of Lord's. But no

K. N. Prabhu, or Dicky Rutnagur, who, in 45 years' prolific output, has not always been mundane.

Tendulkar apart, Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are subjects, and

C.K. Nayudu finds his rightful place. But the editor might have put in a footnote, amending Scyld Berry's statement that Raj Singh (of Dungarpur) was the opposing captain in C.K.'s last Ranji Trophy match.

He was not: Rajasthan's skipper was Bhagwat Singh, the Maharana of Mewar. A wee point, but still, an inaccuracy.

Similarly, in Ray Robinson's lovely piece on Hanif Mohammed, it is mentioned he was born in Manavadar. Now this is something one had wondered about when originally reading Robinson.

He was thorough in his research and did visit Pakistan in 1956. But everywhere else (including Hanif's 1999 autobiography) his birth-place is given as Junagadh. Once again, a tiny matter, but Guha might have pointed out the anomaly.

It is not that the editor does not provide useful asides. Readers would find it interesting that, but for a delay in the arrival of his travel papers, George Headley might have gone to the U.S. and been lost to cricket. It is also useful information that Haverford College, near Philadelphia, has an excellent cricket library.

Putting together an anthology, with so much material to choose from, has to be hard work. All the great names of cricket literature are naturally here - there are five pieces by John Arlott and four by C.L.R. James - plus many little-known ones. There is an illuminating item by Donald Woods, on Dik Abed, the coloured South African, one of a generation from whom Basil d'Oliveira broke away into stardom.

Unusually, at the end of his selection, the editor extends his brief with an essay on his own 50 favourite books.

Most will find his choice, and comments, of interest. But it is intriguing there is no mention of two outstanding books of the last 15 years: David Frith's splendid Pageant of Cricket and Gideon Haigh's excellent summary of Packer cricket.

This is a collection most readers will enjoy. If it is also successful in attracting to the game's best writers a new generation of fans, the publishers will have done cricket a great service.

SUBROTO SIRKAR

The Picador Book of Cricket, edited by Ramachandra Guha, Picador, p. xv + 476, price not mentioned.

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