The Twelfth Man 2015

18 Frith’s Encounters Personal Insights and Friendships from Rhodes to Roebuck by David Frith, Published by and available from Von Krumm Publishing, 21 Sackville Road, Hove, BN3 3WA – £15 Wombwell’s newest Patron and long-standing supporter, David Frith, has compiled this splendid, weighty production recalling his personal encounters with a vast array of cricketers and other notables from the cricketing media, spanning over 60 years. The original 58 essays that were carried by The Cricketer between 2007 and 2012 are here, plus seven additional ones, not previously taken up by that magazine. As the author comments, in his coverage of his briefer encounters, “…while statistics are the framework or skeleton of the game, people are cricket’s flesh and blood. The character/personality is what matters”. And there is so much ‘flesh and blood’ here to digest. Wombwell and Yorkshire followers will, of course, want to read about Bairstow, Bowes, Hutton, Rhodes, Sutcliffe and Trueman, but the parochial reader should not limit their boundaries. Among the most touching pieces Book Reviews are reflections on the respective fates of Colin Milburn, Peter Roebuck, Eddie Gilbert and Fred Bakewell. A number of former WCLS Patrons, including John Arlott (‘a surrogate father’ to DF), E.W.Swanton, Keith Miller and Colin Cowdrey also feature in the mini-portraits. Giants from the past like S.F.Barnes, Compton, Bradman, Larwood, Lindwall and Peter May nestle next to less well-known, but worthy subjects, including Charles Barnett, Bob Crisp, George Geary, Hunter Hendry, Bill Hunt and others. Fascinating throughout and thoroughly recommended. Mick Pope Skirting the Boundary A History of Women’s Cricket by Isabelle Duncan, Published by The Robson Press – £18.99 Women’s cricket has come a long way since Punch offered the following advice to female players back in 1868: “get yourself bowled first ball so that you can spend the rest of the time at tea and flirtation with the five fielders who have been withdrawn from the field to give the ladies a chance”. Player, coach, MCC Committee member and author, Isabelle Duncan, traces the history of the women’s game from the 18th Century to the present day in this lively and engaging study. A campaigner for the women’s game, through deed and action, the author delves far and wide to illustrate how women have struggled to as much as even play the game in some parts of the globe, through to gaining a small fraction of the coverage, at International level, as their male counterparts enjoy in the 21st Century. Finally though the game is awakening to some semblance of equality – acceptance within the corridors at Lord’s, TV coverage (World Cup and Ashes at least), professional players and contracts. There is a long way still to go. This book should serve not only as a source of knowledge about the women’s game, but as an inspiration to aid that continued progress and development. Skirting the Boundary is very worthy of a place on everyone’s bookcase, alongside all those hundreds and hundreds of other books about the men who play this glorious summer game. Mick Pope