Test of Time: Travels in Search of a Cricketing Legend

by JohnLazenby (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2005

  $3.27

  John Lazenby's interest in cricket began with a glimpse of his grandfather's old leather cricket bag stored among the rafters. His curiosity piqued, one day he decided to climb up and explore its contents. The faded blazer, heavy ball and linseed-scented bats exerted a subtle influence on him. This re-emerged decades later when he discovered a box of letters written by his grandfather, the England cricketer J. R. Mason, while on a boat to Australia for the 1897-8 Ashes tour. Inspired by these extraordinary letters, John Lazenby retraces the journey. His tour becomes a cricketing pilgrimage and a voyage of discovery as he passes through Australian cities and remote towns his grandfather visited more than a hundred years ago. During his travels he uncovers a wealth of memorabilia and anecdotes, and his wide-reaching narrative encompasses not only Mason and his team-mates, but also a wider insight into late Victorian mores.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.27

  John Lazenby's interest in cricket began as a boy with a glimpse of his grandfather's old leather cricket bag stored in the rafters. His curiosity piqued, he explored its contents to discover a faded blazer, scuffed ball and linseed-scented bats. Decades later, when he found a box of letters written by his grandfather, J. R. Mason, on the boat to Australia for the Ashes tour, John was inspired to retrace the journey. John's tour through the Australian cities and remote towns visited by England cricketers over a hundred years ago uncovers a wealth of anecdotes and memorabilia. His narrative vividly evokes not only Mason and his teammates, but a wider sense of late Victorian mores at home and abroad.