Cricket's Historians

The World of Cricket brief mentions of these early games; possibly lack of space precluded their publication. There are no biographies of blues, but the early ones are in J.D.Betham’s very comprehensive book (see Chapter 5) and the Three Great Schools volume (see Chapter 8) covers many others The author states that the illustrations are severely limited due to cost. Another addition to cricket’s history published in the 60s was The Paddock That Grew, the author being the Melbourne Sun-Herald journalist, Keith Dunstan. At 304 large pages it is possibly the most ambitious volume yet to appear on Australia cricket and certainly on a single aspect of the game on that continent – Melbourne Cricket Club. The work is well illustrated. The author explores the pre-Melbourne Cricket Ground history in a thorough manner before launching into the detailed history of the present ground and many of the major matches played there. The book was revised and enlarged in 1974 and again in 1988. Dunstan acknowledges the expertise of Hugh Field, who had over many years researched the subject. Dunstan’s book was first published in 1962, the same year as Felix on the Bat . This title was briefly mentioned in Chapter 9, but deserves more than a passing reference. It is the most attractive of all the works written by Gerald Brodribb and the final 58 pages are a reproduction of Felix’s original book (issued in 1845). The first 145 pages are Brodribb’s biography of the remarkable Felix. It is a model for such a work. The author details not only Felix on the cricket field, but his life as a schoolmaster, artist and writer, thus providing a rounded portrait of his subject. There are some splendid illustrations. Was it a coincidence that within 12months of Brodribb’s book appearing, the same publishers, Eyre and Spottiswoode, issuedPatrickMorrah’s work, Alfred Mynn and the Cricketers of His Time ? He acknowledges Brodribb’s work. However, Morrah did investigate the Mynn family in depth and adds quite a number of points not found in previous works in which Mynn features. Rosenwater was employed to provide a workmanlike index and, perhaps, provided some small pieces to the jigsaw. The book was certainly favourably reviewed. These books on Felix and Mynn were important milestones in the 187