Brilliance off the pitch

The reprinting of Gideon Haigh’s The Summer Game, the book that captures several Australian teams’ visits to India among other tours from 1949-50 to 1969-70, has further embellished the literary side of cricket

As I write this, I am surrounded by Summer. Not quite the season of oppressive heat, but cricket books bearing the word Summer in their title.

In front of me is a reprint of Australian writer Gideon Haigh’s 1997 classic The Summer Game, now published by 81allout Publishing—spearheaded by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan, the fine cricket writer and accomplished podcaster.

To my left is a pile of best-known cricket photographer Patrick Eagar’s books on various series in the 1980s, with text by Alan Ross. A Summer to Remember (1981 Ashes) leads the row, followed by Summer of the All-Rounder (1982 series in England featuring Pakistan and India), Summer of Speed (1982-83 Ashes), An Australian Summer (1985 Ashes), Summer of Suspense (1986 series in England involving India and New Zealand) and West Indian Summer (England v West Indies 1988).

Kiwis and Indians (Test series v New Zealand and 1983 World Cup) and Tour of Tours (1989 Ashes) are among the books in which Englishman Eagar didn’t use the word Summer in the title.

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There are more Summer books; the ‘senior-most’ in my collection being Indian Summer – An Account of the Cricket Tour in England 1946 by John Arlott. It was a wet summer, with England winning the opening Test at Lord’s by 10 wickets, followed by two rain-ruined draws at Old Trafford and The Oval.

Unlike what India will experience in next month’s trip to England for the June 7-11 World Test Championship final, there were plenty of games going into the 1946 Test series. In fact, 12 
warm-up games.

Arlott’s description of India’s visit to Scotland to play them in a tour game at Edinburgh on May 22 and 23, 1946, is worth reproducing. “Rice, curry and fruit crowned the finest hospitality received by the touring team and their Scot hosts put the visitors’ happiness first. It was a happy visit for every member of the party and memories of food in Scotland remained to the end of the tour.”

Of the cricket, Arlott wrote: “Hafeez [Abdul] took a wicket with his first ball of the tour. Sarwate [Chandu] had a match-bag of 12 wickets including a hat-trick, and Hazare [Vijay] came out with five for 52. Gul Mahomed delighted the crowd with some acrobatic fielding and the game was duly won by India [led by IAK Pataudi] by an innings and 56 runs.”

The English broadcaster and writer also authored Two Summers at the Tests, which encompassed the England v South Africa series in 1947 and Don Bradman’s 1948 Australians in England.

Back to Haigh’s book. The new publisher has managed to use the same Keith Miller image which adorned the original 1997 edition, thanks to the Bradman Museum in Bowral. It was shot during  a New South Wales v Marylebone Cricket Club (the England team toured under this banner till 1976-77) at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1950. I learn the photographer, Ross Freeman, worked for the Daily Telegraph. Freeman rarely did cricket and was a wedding photographer post-retirement.

Armed with permission to use the magnificent Miller image for his third reprinted book after Mike Marqusee’s War Minus the Shooting and Mike Coward’s Cricket Beyond the Bazaar, Vaidyanathan chose a Miller fan to write the Foreword - Ian Chappell. In it, the former Australia captain raises a toast to Haigh for not only summarising the “important playing years between 1949 and 1971” but also bringing to life the “previously overlooked view of the characters who were involved in cricket.”

High-handed officials, like Chappell called them, feature in the book along with the courageous players and performances in an era which was not comfortable for Australian teams touring the sub-continent.

Chappell’s anecdote-laden Foreword is layered with straight talk. He has, not for the first time, blamed selector Don Bradman for Miller’s exclusion from the 1949-50 tour of South Africa.

“This is another classic case of Sir Donald Bradman’s accepted cricket intelligence being outweighed by his vindictiveness,” writes Chappell.

I was particularly pleased to see a correction made in the case of the late journalist, GK Menon. Haigh had referred to the reporter as Ghulam Menon in his 1997 edition of The Summer Game. Menon went down in India v Australia history as it were for making his way to the field in the 1969-70 Brabourne Stadium Test to tell the umpires that the scorer in the press box couldn’t see their signals because of the flames caused by the riot post S Venkataraghavan’s controversial second innings dismissal.

There are many qualities that make Haigh the best cricket writer in the game. What stands out in this book are the dialogues, conversations he has managed to suss out from his interviewees. And facts. For example, he writes about how ex-captain Richie Benaud was in the Caribbean to report for the Sydney Sun newspaper in 1966. Benaud was determined to validate claims over West Indies pace ace Charlie Griffith’s suspect action. Haigh reveals the exact type of camera equipment Benaud brought on that tour to film Griffith—a Minolta SR7, 400mm Tamron lens, two tripods, a light meter and 100 rolls of film.

The Summer Game is a rediscovered precious stone. Instead of letting it continue to be an out-of-print book only to be found in antiquarian sections of book catalogues, 81allout have brought it to life. Long live such true cricket lovers.

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.

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