The Twelfth Man 2015

19 10 for 10 Hedley Verity and the Story of Cricket’s Greatest Bowling Feat by Chris Waters, Bloomsbury Publishing – £10.99 This second book from the cricket correspondent of the Yorkshire Post , Chris Waters, follows his acclaimed biography of Fred Trueman in 2011. The name of Hedley Verity carries as much reverence in the annals of Yorkshire cricket as that of FST. Verity’s spectacular bowling feat against Nottingham at Headingley in 1932 forms the central theme of Chris’s second offering, sparked by a conversation he had with the then oldest living county cricketer, Frank Shipston, who was one of Verity’s victims on that distant July day. Compact and compellingly crafted, this book is very well rounded and sets Verity’s feat against the backdrop of 1930s life and the happenings of the time. An array of good pictures (some would have appreciated a better quality paper), brief portraits of the players involved and a statistical list of the bowlers to have taken ten wickets in an innings in first- class cricket, complete the publication. Rightly this tome has secured the author the Society’s J.M.Kilburn award as the Cricket Writer of the Year for 2014. Mick Pope ‘Stoddy’ England’s Finest Sportsman by David Frith, Published by Von Krumm Publishing, 21 Sackville Road, Hove, BN3 3WA – £17 (standard edition), £50 (limited signed edition of 100 copies) (Full details/order form with your 2015 membership mail-out) Forty-five years ago an aspiring cricket writer self-published his first book. David’s 1970 biography of A.E.Stoddart, signed and numbered (400 were produced), would have set you back the princely sum of £2.50. Inside a year every copy of My Dear Victorious Stod had been sold and the author was the inaugural recipient of the Cricket Society Jubilee Literary Award. In April 2015, and 34 books later, the now acclaimed cricket writer and historian has returned to the story of Andrew Ernest Stoddart, supported by a wealth of new material and images, to make a very persuasive case that ‘Stoddy’ should be remembered as England’s finest sportsman. In a year when much will be written, 100 years from their respective deaths, about W.G.Grace and Victor Trumper, pause for a moment and digest Stoddart’s sporting deeds. For a period in the 1890s he was the best batsman in the world, following on his innings of 485 in a club match for Hampstead in 1886. He captained England in a unique sporting treble – cricket, rugby union and he also skippered the British Lions during a number of Australian Rules football matches on the 1888 tour of Australasia. Golf and tennis both attracted his attentions. He was simply an outstanding Victorian all-rounder with a distinctive and exceptional record in the sporting world. So why is he largely forgotten among English sporting icons of the last two centuries? On 3 April 1915 the deeply troubled Stoddart took his own life. Perhaps the tragedy and the shame of such an ending tarnished and diminished a lasting legacy? David Frith, in 1970, in 1977 [when an enhanced edition was published] and now, 100 years on from his demise, vividly reminds us why A.E.Stoddart deserves so much more than the ‘strange and unwarranted obscurity’ that has befallen him. Mick Pope