Book Review - When Cricket Was Cricket by Adam Powley

The latest book I have been sent for review is a bit of a curate's egg, to be honest.

Published by Haynes, long-established and perhaps best known for their wide range of technical manuals, especially for cars, this is the latest book in a series that has covered the photographic histories of several football clubs.

Visually it is a joy and the photographs are, as one might expect from the Mirrorpix archive, of a very high standard. I have to say that I would have liked to see more older photographs, although that is purely a personal preference and fascination. Those on show are an eclectic and excellent mix of club, school, social, county and international cricket and where this book comes into its own is as a coffee table book. It is a pleasure to pick up and I have even seen my wife and daughter, neither of them cricket fans, looking through it in recent days. There is even a picture of cricket at Buxton; Derbyshire v Lancashire in 1939, with the scoreboard reading a somewhat typical 36-2 from 20 overs. Les Townsend and Stan Worthington are the unidentified batsmen, starting a third wicket stand of 145 runs after the recent dismissal of Albert Alderman.

Others are redolent of a more innocent age. A 1949 crowd scene for a county match at Llanelli shows supporters sitting on planks between two beer barrels, something that health and safety concerns wouldn't allow today, while a 1908 shot of a match in progress, seemingly taken from the gulley position, is of breathtaking clarity.

Where I am less convinced, however, is in the text. The author, Adam Powley is better known for his work on football and although he has largely done a decent and informative job there are irksome errors. Some Americanised spellings for starters, while the mis-spelling of "Dennis Lillie" shouldn't have got through the proof-reading stage. There are also factual errors in the text. Lance Gibbs was not one of the leading Test bowlers of the 1950s - he only made his Test debut in 1957-58 and had just 25 Test wickets by the end of the decade. A reference to former Glasgow Govan MP (and fine cricketer) "the Badar Islam" is sloppy - it was his name, not title - while a reference to the "great Northern League side, Nelson" will surprise those who have played with and against them in the Lancashire League for generations.

My major complaint, however, is in the presentation of the greats of the game. Few would argue with the identification of such players as Hobbs, Hutton, Tendulkar, Richards and Boycott, among others. Yet the logic of including their bowling averages in the potted biography accompanying their photographs escapes me, as none were front-line bowlers. Similarly we read of the great Malcolm Marshall's Test batting average of 18, inconsequential compared to his bowling one of 20 which should have included a reference to  his 376 Test wickets. This is fine and appropriate for genuine all-rounders like Imran Khan and Garfield Sobers, but does no favours for specialist legends of the game.

Maybe I am being picky, but a book that looks as impressive as this could have attained perfection. I have seen many pictorial histories of the game over the years. From an illustrative angle this one is up there with the best, but the text would have benefited from a little additional TLC.

In short? Worth a purchase for the pictures beyond doubt, but be prepared for some textual inconsistency.

When Cricket Was Cricket is published by Haynes Publishing and written by Adam Powley. Priced £18.99, it is currently selling for £9.50 on Amazon.