CAPTAIN OF ENGLAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27523, 18 October 1950, Page 2

CAPTAIN OF ENGLAND

Yard ley’s Cricketing Life

Cricket Campaigns. By Norman Yardley. Stanley Paul (Whitcombe and Tombs). 12s 6d.

Norman Yardley’s autobiography is one of the most entertaining of the many cricket books that have been published in recent years. It has a special authority, for the author was England’s cricket captain in tests against Australia and South Africa, and the reader can be sure that, the information imparted about test matches and test players is based on observations made in the field.

Naturally his book gives intimate glimpses of many notable modem cricketers, including that most controversial of all great players, Sir Donald Bradman. Yardley found him a relentless opponent, one who was not content to administer a beating, but would “ rub it in,” though the author gives full acknowledgment to Bradman’s genius as a batsman. Like others who have written of the 1947 tour, he found it tense, fraught with many disappointments, of which the standard of Australian umpiring was not the least. Also like others in this team, he recalls the subsequent match with Otago as a pleasant and thrilling relief from the strain of playing in Australia.

Yardley is a natural sportsman. He was one of England’s' outstanding squash players and at school he was captain of both football and cricket. At Cambridge he was a cricket and hockey blue, but it was not until after he had become captain of England that he attained his greatest ambition, the captaincy of Yorkshire. He has a genuine love for cricket, but an even keener appreciation that cricket is a game, and throughout his book he retains the humorous and optimistic outlook which has earned him the reputation of being one of the most charming of cricket companions. E. A. A.