Cricket profiles by a master

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 18

Cricket profiles by a master

B/g Names in New Zealand Cricket. Fifty Profiles by R. T. Brittenden. Moa Publications, Auckland, 1983. Illustrations. 342 pp. $19.95. • (Reviewed by Vincent Orange) ‘You will all be envying me my good fortune in being given the delightful task of reviewing Mr Brittenden’s latest book. Not only do I get a free copy, but also a cheque. Now I know how Albert Finney, as Tom Jones, felt when he found himself in bed with a naked Joan Greenwood: all this and money too. My readers will, quite rightly, regard my commendation of the book as superfluous and any criticisms as impertinence. Nevertheless, I regret the absence of Gary Bartlett and Tony Mac Gibbon from this collection. A “big name” player is surely one who makes the opposition feel uncomfortable even when he isn’t doing anything. At any moment, he can take a wicket or hold a catch and, at need, play a valuable innings. Bartlett and Mac Gibbon made more of a mark in New Zealand cricket than, for example, Ross Morgan or John Parker, both of whom appear in this book. I also think that Jack Alabaster (another absentee) bothered many more good batsmen than Bryan Yuile did. A statistical summary of the players’ careers would have interested many readers. Bearing in mind the many excellent performances of our current heroes, it would make us wonder anew what d£eds Blunt, Dempster, Badcock and Cowie, for example, might have performed: between them, they appeared in only 35 tests — the same number as Richard Collinge himself. -Those essays which appeared in “The Finest years” (Reed, 1977) have been re-written and up-dated where

necessary. They all display Mr Brittenden’s well-known ability to write with grace and precision, insight and charity. He neither goes over the. top nor under the belt. He has known all the players described here (that fact alone makes his book a precious record of our cricket history) and all of them, I dare wager, regarded him as a fair judge and a true friend. He takes great delight in the tradition of sportsmanship established by New Zealand cricketers in international matches which, under the admirable Howarth, shows no signs of collapse even in the much tenser atmosphere of recent times. It is a tradition which will, however, come under increasing strain, now that our players begin each

test with realistic hopes of victory. Cricket lends itself to great performances by individuals, even by two or three players, in a lost cause. These performances can be savoured in tranquillity when the pain of the defeat has faded. A struggle against adversity is more inspiring to read about than a sweeping victory and therefore one does not feel as engaged by our Men in Black, except against Wales, as by our Men in White (or Beige). Avoiding the crunch of resisting it bravely provides better material than delivering the crunch and Mr Brittenden takes full advantage of that fact. All the cricketers commemorated here have had countless opportunities to display resolution in adversity, and victory has come rarely enough for it to keep its sweet taste. Every reader will pick his best eleven to play the greatest eleven in history (England, 1911-12) and mine is Sutcliffe, Turner, W. A. Hadlee (captain), Dempster, Donnelly, Reid, H. G. Vivian, R. J. Hadlee, Motz, James and Cowie. If one were also to choose a team of the game’s greatest writers to report such a match, there would be a place, as of right, for Mr Brittenden, alongside Cardus, Swanton, RobertsonGlasgow, Fingleton and Arlott.

But now it is time for Mr Brittenden to write his memoirs. He has done all he can within the limited format of tour books and essays. One feels, in this book as in all his others, that he has observed far more about his fellow men, at home and abroad, than their cricketing prowess. He could tell a fascinating story if he chose, because the words he uses of Bryan Yuile apply equally to him: “If he made an enemy, his enemy was not worth having as a friend."