In Quest of the Ashes - Douglas Jardine
Methuen Publications Ltd RRP
£17.99 Buy
The Book Now for £12.59 or less
 Douglas
Jardine, will forever be linked to Bodyline, for it
was during this season that he had the greatest effect
not only on Test Cricket history but relations between
the Mother Country and her dominion, not so much for
his batting or bowling feats, but his captaincy and
the decisions he made off and on the field. The events
are well documented, and are still talked about around
cricket grounds in the 21st Century.
When the second world war broke out he was among the
first to join. Dropped behind enemy lines he served
his country with distinction. Son of a Rhaj, he died
of cancer on June 18th, 1958 (Montreux, Switzerland).
He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over
the glens and lochs of Scotland.
The book was originally published in 1933 by Hutchinson
& Co and despite a re-print, it hasn’t been
revised or updated in the last 72 years. Methuen have done a very nice job with this revised edition
and have included a new forward by Mike Brearley,
a memoir by Jardine’s daughter Fianach Lawry
and of course the original forward and preface by
RCN Palairet (Joint manager) and Jardine himself.
“In Quest of the Ashes” is in effect the
same book that Jardine wrote way back in the 30’s,
the same language, the same feel and the same text
style. The language used is “old fashioned”
compared to contemporary writing and is one of its
endearing qualities. Very few books written 70 years
ago ever receive a re-print unless proven incredibly
popular. Given that 2005 is an “ashes year”,
what better time to release the book than now, three
weeks ahead of the first Test against Australia. The
book of course is an account of the most contentious
of all series – Bodyline. Buy
The Book
As mentioned earlier, the Rev Fianach Lawry (nee Jardine),
residing in Scotland these days has added a rather
moving but short memoir at the end of the book. I
say short because to be honest it left me wanting
to know more, how Douglas was as a father, did he
talk about cricket or Bodyline and was he ever in
touch with the players from the tour in later life?.
Far too many questions to be honest ! One thing of
note from the memoir was the MCC’s refusal to
allow the family to scatter his (Jardine) ashes in
the memorial garden at Lord’s. Something I find
amazing given that he was an ex England captain, albeit
a controversial one!
The book, although a one sided account of the tour
is very interesting and full of information one would
not be aware of unless you read an account by a player
from the tour. Now that the book is available to the
next generation of cricket lovers, it should be kept
as an important reference to a period when politics
and cricket mixed with almost disastrous consequences.
Interestingly,
Jardine's vice captain (Wyatt) released a book back
in the 30's and in it he discusses amongst other things,
the Larwood situation in the final Test match. He
claims that it was he that suggested Larwood be sent
in at the fall of the second or third wicket to fall
and not Douglas Jardine. Douglas, in his book claimed
he was responsible for this team change, and as captain
I think you would have to go with what he has written.
I'm sure Bob Wyatt may have discussed the team order
with his captain at some stage, but so strong and
clever were Jardine's opinions and tactics that I
believe it was he who decided on the batting order
not Wyatt. Jardine gives further evidence to this
view in the book when he gave a detailed reason for
choosing Larwood at number 4 (in short to give him
a rest after long stint of bowling). This is but one
topic Jardine discusses in his book.
I was delighted to see how Methuen had dealt with the updating the original book, preserving
the feel and atmosphere of the first edition, adding
footnotes to the relevant pages. The book jacket is
also in keeping with the style, Jardine walking out
to field with his team-mates in Sydney, Jardine sporting
his harlequins cap and white neckerchief striding
out to the middle. Reading a book that was written
so long ago more often than not leaves the reader
with a desire to know what has happened since its
first publication, further editions often failing
to update. This is the beauty of the updated Methuen
version, the publishers bringing the book into the
21st Century with these updates. During Jardine’s
chapter on the 2nd Test at Melbourne, he mentions
that the world record for crowd attendance was broken
with 63,973 attending. However this was broken in
1961 against the West Indies (at the MCG) with a crowd
of 90,800 for the second day’s play. This information
is supplied by the numerous footnotes found throughout
the book.
The book is more or less in two parts; pre Bodyline
(choosing the team, selection panel) and the tour
itself including the five Test matches. It is a wonderful
insight into a world few of us will ever encounter,
the era of “gentlemen” and “players”,
how times differed for amateurs and professionals,
the travelling and Jardine’s pet hate, the Australian
crowds. There is no doubt; this is an invaluable resource
that has been made available once again.
Complete with 31 illustrations, all of which are well
preserved, each telling its own story. Woodfull being
hit in the fourth Test, Jardine taking a slip catch
to dismiss Stan McCabe at Brisbane, the infamous leg
theory field and of course Harold Larwood, just some
of the illustrations included. There are many more
in the collection, too many to describe, I’ll
leave that for you the reader to enjoy and savour.
One interesting illustration to find its way into
the book was that of the Nawab of Pataudi considering
the general dislike by both men of each other! That
said, he was bowled by Nagel with Oldfield watching
on!
In
Quest of the Ashes is a magnificent account
of the most famous of all Ashes series - Bodyline.
If you are looking for an inside look into his thoughts,
a captains day by day view on every Test match and
would like to share his love for fishing then this
is most certainly the book for you. Highly
recommended, part of history beckons.
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