Cricket Books

Coming at the end of March, John Benaud’s new book on the 1973 Australian tour of the West Indies, entitled ‘The First Ball After Lunch’

It was the summer of speed which smashed cricket’s modus operandi forever. So relentless were the volleys of ‘throat’ balls from Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee in 1974-75, that the departing English blessed themselves that no one had been killed. ‘One tour too many,’ 35-year-old Brian Luckhurst told a teammate.

Join me, Ken Piesse, in the fabulous West Indies for three Test matches from June 2025.

West Australian Corey Rocchiccioli will be part of a headlining spin trio in Sri Lanka in the New Year, says KEN PIESSE Australia’s strategy for success for its mid-summer tour of  Sri Lanka is likely to revolve around a spin triumvirate including late-blooming West Australian Corey Rocchiccioli.

Even Test cricketers develop inferiority complexes. Undone four times in his first four innings by India’s Jasprit Bumrah, Nathan McSweeney forfeited his Test place for the two glamour Tests of the 2024-25 summer in Melbourne and Sydney.

A very nervous Ian Redpath was playing his first match for Victoria and within minutes of the start, he dropped South Australia’s Neil Dansie at slip and cut his eyebrow in the process. Victoria’s captain Bill Lawry was unimpressed: ‘Piss off and get the 12th man out here.’