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ameya88's review
4.0
As a cricket fan from the 90's, the Packer revolution was always something you heard about in the background, mentioned in newspaper articles but I never really understood the details or knew the narrative of what went down. Part of this probably because of the lack of highlights on TV and no Indian presence - but now that I think about it - it's surprising that so little of it is known to this generation.
With that context, when I happened to hear about The Cricket War and that it was finally back in print, picked it up without too much thought. The blurb of '50 Greatest Sports Books' by The Times does it no harm. And Gideon Haigh is a familiar name from ESPNCricinfo.
After trawling through it over the best part of a three day weekend, I'm conflicted about how to rate it. It is a meticulously well-researched book - encyclopedic almost in it's level of detail, excruciatingly recreating both boardroom shenanigans as well as on-field drama by referencing hundreds of other books. The 2 year period of 1977 to 1979 is covered in detail in four key parts - how Packer was spruned, how he set up the WSC, the action on the field and how the 'circus' evolved and the eventual truce with it's aftermath and collateral damage. As a cricket fan for over 20 years it told me tons of things I didn't know and wouldn't have associated with Packer - from helmets and rebel tours to the dangerous nature of cricket in that era and how the careers of some past greats better known as commentators and coaches evolved (Tony Greig, Ian Chappell, Bob Woolmer amongst others...). There are parts more related to the world of business than the world of sport, but it would be naive to want to understand the latter without appreciation of the former.
And yet, this is not an easy book to follow or read. Haigh is more a classical 'writer' than a sports journalist (side note -the number of times I needed to check a word's meaning in the dictionary in this book was much much higher than usual). He builds his tale languorously, peppering it with flashbacks wherever necessary, introducing a ginormous cast of characters that is quite simply put impossible to keep track of and does not necessary simplify the story to ensure the reader follows it. For example, it is neigh impossible to keep track of which team actually won a match or how the series ebbed and flowed. And this was a book originally written in 1993 (if I'm not mistaken) so for anyone under 40, most of the peripheral characters - players or otherwise - are not familiar names, thus keeping track proves to be tricky again. These are again perhaps not details central to the tale Haigh is telling - which is more about the metamorphosis of the game, but it could help put things into a chronological order and give the reader some rails to clutch on to as they build the narrative in their own imagination.
It's also very clearly aimed at an Australian audience (given that most of the key protagonists were Aussie) with references to pop-cultural, political and social events which an outsider will find it difficult to appreciate even with the internet. On more than one occasion I googled a term or phrase Haigh has used and the only relevant result which seemed to come up was from a Google Books listing of this very book! My sense is an that people who've lived through the Packer era (if you can call a 2 year period that) and want to now understand it better with all the backstage machinations of it will enjoy it far more than someone who is looking at an introduction to WSC. Something more suitable for the historians and cricket aficionados than the casual fans.
5 stars for education, 3 stars for readability and entertainment. A Cliff-Notes version of this book may actually sell much better :)
With that context, when I happened to hear about The Cricket War and that it was finally back in print, picked it up without too much thought. The blurb of '50 Greatest Sports Books' by The Times does it no harm. And Gideon Haigh is a familiar name from ESPNCricinfo.
After trawling through it over the best part of a three day weekend, I'm conflicted about how to rate it. It is a meticulously well-researched book - encyclopedic almost in it's level of detail, excruciatingly recreating both boardroom shenanigans as well as on-field drama by referencing hundreds of other books. The 2 year period of 1977 to 1979 is covered in detail in four key parts - how Packer was spruned, how he set up the WSC, the action on the field and how the 'circus' evolved and the eventual truce with it's aftermath and collateral damage. As a cricket fan for over 20 years it told me tons of things I didn't know and wouldn't have associated with Packer - from helmets and rebel tours to the dangerous nature of cricket in that era and how the careers of some past greats better known as commentators and coaches evolved (Tony Greig, Ian Chappell, Bob Woolmer amongst others...). There are parts more related to the world of business than the world of sport, but it would be naive to want to understand the latter without appreciation of the former.
And yet, this is not an easy book to follow or read. Haigh is more a classical 'writer' than a sports journalist (side note -the number of times I needed to check a word's meaning in the dictionary in this book was much much higher than usual). He builds his tale languorously, peppering it with flashbacks wherever necessary, introducing a ginormous cast of characters that is quite simply put impossible to keep track of and does not necessary simplify the story to ensure the reader follows it. For example, it is neigh impossible to keep track of which team actually won a match or how the series ebbed and flowed. And this was a book originally written in 1993 (if I'm not mistaken) so for anyone under 40, most of the peripheral characters - players or otherwise - are not familiar names, thus keeping track proves to be tricky again. These are again perhaps not details central to the tale Haigh is telling - which is more about the metamorphosis of the game, but it could help put things into a chronological order and give the reader some rails to clutch on to as they build the narrative in their own imagination.
It's also very clearly aimed at an Australian audience (given that most of the key protagonists were Aussie) with references to pop-cultural, political and social events which an outsider will find it difficult to appreciate even with the internet. On more than one occasion I googled a term or phrase Haigh has used and the only relevant result which seemed to come up was from a Google Books listing of this very book! My sense is an that people who've lived through the Packer era (if you can call a 2 year period that) and want to now understand it better with all the backstage machinations of it will enjoy it far more than someone who is looking at an introduction to WSC. Something more suitable for the historians and cricket aficionados than the casual fans.
5 stars for education, 3 stars for readability and entertainment. A Cliff-Notes version of this book may actually sell much better :)
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