News

  • REVIEW: BORDER’S BATTLERS

    by Ken on July 25, 2019

    It may well have been the greatest Test match of all, better than The Oval 1926, Headingley 1948 and even Edgbaston 2005. With all its sub-plots, spats, heroes and tension, it can be argued that Madras 1986 was even more thrilling than the original tied Test in Brisbane 1960.

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  • REVIEW: MY SONG SHALL BE CRICKET

    by Ken on July 22, 2019

    Franklyn Stephenson was an extraordinary, innovative cricketer. First time at the MCG he took 10-46.  His slower ball became the most famed in English cricket. He was switch-hitting long before KP. He was the last to do the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets. Yet his career is forever underrated – and tainted.

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  • MELBOURNE’S RARE BOOK FAIR

    MELBOURNE’S RARE BOOK FAIR

    by Ken on July 14, 2019

    Having a self-imposed spending ‘limit’ at a Rare Book Fair is a discipline few of us can master, especially for collectors like me who still thrill to the hunt, 50-plus years since an indulgent uncle passed on a copy of Charlie Macartney’s My Cricketing Days.

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  • Australia’s only 50-year-old Test cricketer

    by Ken on July 13, 2019

    In the old days of Ashes tours when ambassadorial duties demanded the packing of dinner suits and a supply of quality dress shirts, it was felt Bert Ironmonger lacked the necessary social graces to successfully represent his country overseas.  He mowed lawns for a living. He’d lost half his forefinger in a farming accident as…

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