Bookshelf

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30302, 30 November 1963, Page 8

Bookshelf

The New Zealand -writer Norman Harris, author of "Silver Fern at Perth” and “Lap of Honour” has produced an athletics almanac rich with information and interest concerning the 196263 season. He has selected as his athletes of the year two Auckland distance runners, W. D. Baillie and J. L. Julian. Baillie receives his place because of his world records for the 20,000 metres and one hour set earlier this year. Julian gains the honour i ecause of his ability to change from being a “perennial place-getter” to win the New Zealand marathon in a New Zealand best time. Harris has selected the clash between P. G. Snell and J. Beatty at Modesto as “the race of the year.’’ After describing the race he says that “the collision of these proud men was true athletics; the one exhuberant with the joy of a great victory, the other smiling in spite of a humiliating defeat.” As well as discussing the performances of the champions, Snell, M. L. Halberg, N. L. Scott, Miss M. Chamberlain and Baillie, Harris reviews the season in each centre, giving pride of place to Waikato. The almanac also contains much for the recordconscious. At the back is a complete list of world and New Zealand records, and the results of the 1963 New Zealand senior and junior championships. One criticism that could be levelled at the almanac is the absence of any comment on field events or even the athletes who specialise in these events. The 72 pages are otherwise rich in information

and comment and good value to athletes and athleticly-minded people. * ¥ ¥ “ALFRED MYNN AND THE CRICKETERS OF HIS TIME,” by Patrick Morrah (Eyre and Spottiswoode; 224 pp) sets out as a biography of one of tlie game’s greatest players and winds up as a study of the game in the early nineteenth century. On boith counts, it is a distinct success. The diversion of interest is inevitable, for when Mynn began, round-arm bowling was just becoming accepted and his career developed with a game changing into its modern colours. Mynn was almost as great a figure in his time as Grace and Bradman were to be later. A man of immense physical strength, he was a tremendous hitter, the fastest bowler of his day, and for many years champion of England at single wicket. More than that, Mynn was as kind and open-hearted as he was strong and he was the idol of Kent. His occasional periods of imprisonment for debt lost him nothing in popularity. He was a farmer's son, but he apparently did little but play cricket, which seemed to please everyone but his creditors. Patrick Morrah has much of interest to say on Mynn's contemporaries. His simple, lucid style, and the ample illustrations, make "Alfred Mynn" a fascinating study of the man and the times. * * * The time and effort involved in the production of the Cricket Almanack of New Zealand constitutes a

task of staggering proportions for one man; yet A. H. Carman, after 16 years, shows no signs of making any concessions to the demands of the job. The 1963 Almanack (138 pp Sporting Publications) maintains the high standard set by its predecessors. It abounds in comment. reviews of matches, scores, and figures, including the season’s averages, and 13 pages of New Zealand first-class records. In an editorial, Mr Carman recalls the fine form of the England team during its New Zealand visit in February and March. But, he adds, it appeared that New Zealand could have fielded a stronger side had players been selected on form, rather than, in some cases, on past performances. "Whilst in the past criticism has been voiced at the almost reckless selecting and discarding of players, it is also possible to go to the other extreme,” he says. "It is certainly a sobering thought, however, that of the 79 players who participated in the Plunket Shield matches, no fewer than 25, or a third, had represented New Zealand, and two others were to do so later.” The almanack has a particular appeal which remains as fresh in the latest volume as it was in the first issue, in 1948. The casual reader will soon fasten on to a half-page story about the record number of hat-tricks in a season; will be- further tempted by an item on J. R. Reid’s flurry of 15 sixes for a new world, record and will quickly be lost in a forest of facts and figures that pinpoint the age of a player’s debut to the day, his batting or bowling average to two decimal places, and the precise moment at which he reaches a scoring milestone. It is a book no cricket enthusiast can afford to do without.