The Birth of The Ashes - Christopher Hilton
Breedon
Books ISBN:
1859835236 (Released October 2006) Buy
It Now
I reviewed Cricket's
300 Men by Christopher Hilton last year,
it was the first time I'd read a book by the author
and thoroughly enjoyed it. With this book still fresh
in my mind I had a pretty good idea at the quality I
was expecting this time round. The 2005 Ashes win has
reignited the desire for all things cricket and Hilton's
latest offering “The Birth of The
Ashes” joins a very interesting
bunch of new releases to hit the shelves.
 Birth
of the Ashes takes a close look at two
days from 1882, in fact, the book is so much more than
that. Hilton takes the reader on an effortless journey
from the early settlers, how cricket was shaped in Australia
and the affect it had on a growing nation compared to
the more established and superior mother country. I
had expected, rather naively I guess to just jump into
the 1882 tour and that would be it. However I was pleasantly
surprised at the depth the author went into the background
history of Australia and matches leading up to the match
at the Oval.
The book opens with Edmund Peate, a
strong Yorkshireman and number 11 bat, walking down
the pavilion steps on his way into the history books
as he attempted to win the Oval Test match. He failed
and the idea behind the Ashes were born. We then travel
back in time to Cook's discovery of Australia in 1770,
mapping the East coast all the while carrying Royal
Instructions. It wasn't until January 26th 1788 that
the first settlers and convicts arrived in Port Jackson,
later named Sydney, to sow the seeds of arguably the
greatest cricketing nation to have played the game.
We also learn that during four years
in the mid 1850's five groups of colonists, known today
as the five states, were granted “responsible
government” and so paved the structure that remains
to this day. By now cricket had grown and had become
a serious sport, the best players coming from New South
Wales and Victoria.
The author goes to great length and
gives us a detailed background to the main players leading
up to the 1882 series and includes some insightful comments
from the likes of Alfred Shaw and WG Grace. I did find
it a little confusing at times, uncertain who was being
quoted but the inclusion of the reports added a great
deal of depth and interesting facts. Sources are numbered
and an index can be found following the relevant chapters.
As the art of communication has improved through the
years, we are perhaps a little too familiar in our knowledge
of today's stars compared to how the stars in the 19th
century were perceived. That said, but for books such
as these, we wouldn't have a clue about someone's character
on or off the field or what kind of cricketing style
they had.
For me the book comes into its own in
chapter five and six, namely the 28th and 29th August
1882. What follows is a remarkable account, over by
over, of the most important Test match to take place
between England and Australia. John Kobylecky has meticulously
recreated the Oval Test match by studying the Australian
score book for the match, unfortunately the whereabouts
of the English book are unknown! It is a truly remarkable
feat. Together with the ball by ball breakdown we have
reports from the newspapers of the time, all helping
to set the scene. The London Daily Chronicle wrote
“The attendance of
spectators was even more numerous than on the day previous,
and was, on the whole, respectable in quality.”
As I mentioned earlier, the inclusion
of player comments of the day, the equivalent to our
post match interviews, are fascinating. WG Grace said
after the match
“Well, well, I left
six men to get thirty odd runs and they couldn't do
it”. George Giffen in the Australian
camp said “A bit of fearless hitting
might have snatched the game from us”.
The second half of this highly entertaining
book takes a look at the events leading up to the creation
of “The Ashes” from a report by Reginald
Brooks in the Sporting Times announcing the death of
English cricket and the scattering of the Ashes to Lady
Clarke's urn. I found the inclusion of letters an interesting
one, especially that of Ivo Bligh back to his parents
asking for Florence Morphy's hand in marriage –
a request the Bligh's rejected at first. The letters,
reproduced with permission from the Rupertswood estate
bring the romance of the Ashes alive and serve to complete
the book along with the atmospheric photographs and
newspaper clippings.
Once again Christopher Hilton delivers
a well researched book, a worthy successor to Cricket's
300 Men. It's been fascinating to read in depth the
events surrounding not only the birth of the Ashes,
but the the relationships that developed post 1882 including
that of Bligh and the Clarke's – a relationship
that led to the famous Ashes urn that was presented
to the MCC in 1928 by Lady Darnley. Buy
The Book
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