The Big Ship: Warwick Armstrong and the Making of Modern Cricket

The Big Ship: Warwick Armstrong and the Making of Modern Cricket

by Gideon Haigh (Author)

Synopsis

Warwick Armstrong was the W.G. Grace of the antipodes. A 21 stone mountain of a man, he dominated Australian cricket in the early decades of the 20th century as its outstanding all-rounder, and in 1920-21 led the Australian Test team to the only 5-0 victory in an Ashes series - a historic feat not even Steve Waugh's remarkable 2001 side managed to repeat. Irascible and curmudgeonly, he was also arguably the first cricketer of the modern age. He demanded his full financial worth, played the game to the edge of the laws and sometimes beyond, and even anticipated the phenomenon of match-fixing. When people called him the Big Ship, they meant he was unsinkable. This is a biography of the spiritual forefather of Steve Waugh and his present-day all-conquering Australians, and a literally giant figure in the history of modern cricket.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 440
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
Published: 24 Apr 2003

ISBN 10: 1854108921
ISBN 13: 9781854108920

Media Reviews
'Not just a great cricket book but a great book tout court' - Francis Wheen, Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 2002; 'Deserves to be in the frame as the best ever cricketing biography... A great book' - Robin Marlar, The Cricketer; 'Another mighty contribution to cricket literature from a much acclaimed writer' - Independent
Author Bio
Gideon Haigh is a journalist in Melbourne, Australia who writes regularly for the Guardian and Wisden Cricket Monthly. In October 2002 Aurum publish Many a Slip, his diary of a club cricket season based on his 'A Load of Hard Yarra' column for the Guardian's sports section.