Book Review: The Life and Death of Andy Ducat by Jonathan Northall

I am no betting man, but I would reckon that far fewer than fifty per cent of this blog's readers will have heard of Andy Ducat.

Which makes the efforts of Jonathan Northall in writing and Pitch Publishing in producing this book all the more laudable, as I suspect that is about the same throughout the country's cricket fans. 

Yet it is a book that deserved writing, because the subject was a giant of both football and cricket before the First World War, remaining a fine cricketer with Surrey until 1931, when he was 45 years old. 

A man who scored 23,000 first-class runs, played for England at both sports and made a list of Arsenal's top fifty players deserves more from history. Yet he was by all accounts a modest man and would likely have greeted his modest treatment by it with a wry smile and a shrug of the shoulders.

He was renowned for his fitness, which likely helped him to recover from serious injuries that might have finished a lesser man. Yet it is ironic that after being deemed 'good for another twenty years' the day before by a doctor for insurance purposes, he died of a heart attack at the crease in a wartime friendly at Lord's. 56 years old and 29 not out, a life and innings ended prematurely, beyond doubt. 

Any man good enough to hold down a place in a strong Surrey side, featuring Hobbs, Sandham and Fender, for twenty years must have been useful. Fifty-two centuries in that time, including a highest of an unbeaten 306 and an average just south of forty, confirms his value to his side and team mates. 

This is a worthy read, an excellent piece of research and a valuable addition to cricket's literature. 

The Life and Death of Andy Ducat is written by Jonathan Northall and published by Pitch Publishing