A Gentleman's Game: Reflections on Cricket History

Veteran Cricket journalist, Historian and author of 14 books on Cricket, Kersi Meher-Homji says: "I feel privileged to write a Foreword for his book A Gentleman’s Game – Reflections on Cricket History. I enjoyed reading this well-illustrated and many-splendored publication. Each Chapter starts with a famous quote. The first Chapter is on “Ranjitsinhji, the Maharaja of Elegance and of Nawanagar”. My initial reaction was: what is there on Ranji a cricket-lover does not know about? But after reading Anindya’s book I learnt many things about Ranji I did not know. Some of it was not pleasant. In the beginning of his career there was a racist article on him written by Sir Home Gordon who called him “a dirty black”. And did you know Ranji faced bankruptcy and earlier on he had no right to call himself a Prince? The Chapter on Keith Miller – the supreme all-round cricket icon, a war hero, a classical music aficionado and a lovable character – starts with his immortal quote: “Pressure? There is no pressure in Test cricket. Real pressure is when you are flying a Mosquito with a Messerschmitt up your arse.” Apart from his heroics on the cricket field author Anindya depicts Miller’s courage and gallantry during World War II. The author also mentions unsung war veterans and cricketers Graham Williams, Lionel Tennyson, Bob Crisp among others. Being a quirky cricket writer myself I found Chapters on fattest and tallest cricketers fascinating. The research on bulky cricketers is aptly titled “Have Fat, Can Bat: Cricketers who were their weight in gold.” Who were they? I won’t tell you; you will have to read the book." The book is not just about achievements. It details failures too: the worst declarations in history and on dropped catches by butterfingers. Also the mighty West Indies lost a match to Ireland. At one stage the Windies under Clive Lloyd were 8 for 6, 12 for 8 before being bowled out for 25. A misprint? A joke? No, it happened. I found the Chapter “A Tale of Two Test Debuts” nostalgic as I was present at the Sydney Cricket Ground when Australia’s Shane Warne and India’s Subroto Banerjee had made their Test debuts in January 1992. Medium-pacer Banerjee captured 3 for 47 including the scalps of Geoff Marsh, Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh. In contrast Warne had a forgettable debut, being smashed all over the park by Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar as he finished with 1 for 150. Warne became a Test legend with 708 wickets at 25.41 in 145 Tests. For Banerjee it was his Test debut and swan song as he was never selected in a Test again. To quote Anindya Dutta, “Bizarrely, the man who has bowled so well in the first innings, Subroto Banerjee, does not get to bowl a single ball in the second innings. In fact, he never gets to bowl another ball in Test cricket, and is destined to be forever referred to in cricketing history as a one-Test wonder.” Cricket cruel cricket! Thus A Gentleman’s Game – Reflections on Cricket History shows many aspects of cricket; the good, the gallant and the paradoxical. I enjoyed reading it. So will you." Anindya Dutta is a Banker by profession and a Cricket Historian and Writer by passion. He writes in journals and websites across the world from Australia's 'The Roar', to India's 'Cricket Country' and 'Sportstar' and on 'ESPN Cricinfo'. This is his first book. His much awaited second book 'Spell-binding Spells' will be published later this year.