Test of Time - John Lazenby
John Murray Publishers RRP £17.99 ISBN:
0719566517
 'Test
of Time' is a two for one special! Not only do you
get a comprehensive account of the 1897-
8 five month tour taken by Stoddart's
men, but a personal voyage of discovery by John Lazenby.
When I first heard about the book some months back,
I wondered how the author would marry the two periods
(late 19th century and early 21st century) together.
From the initial discovery of the old leather cricket
bag in the rafters as a child, to a reawakening of
feelings when he stumbled upon some letters written
by his grandfather Jack Mason, England international
and Kent County Captain.
The
letters (written by Mason on the Australia bound ship)
were the catalyst that would see Lazenby embark on
a journey of self discovery, cricketing secrets and
a trip throughout Australia. Retracing the trip his
grandfather took a little over a century ago we learn
all about fellow England team-mates, the reactions
to the tourists by locals and a match by match summary
of how the English team attempted to win the coveted
ashes series.
The
book has been extensively researched and is a great
addition to any cricket lovers’ collection.
Lazenby fuses old with new effortlessly and describes
not only his own quest in modern day England and Australia
but that of his grandfather over a hundred years ago
in his attempt to win the ashes.
An
easy book to read and pick up, the detail is impressive
and the amount of time taken to research and write
this book has been well worth the effort. The travel
narrative is also enjoyable and is well thought out,
nicely blended amongst the recollections of Ranji
and Stoddart to name but a few.
On
his quest to uncover more information on Mason, Lazenby
recalls his various trips within Australia from his
overnight train journeys to long dusty drives in the
car meeting all manner of people along the way. He
calls in to old Hotels along the way including the
Windsor Hotel in Melbourne and old railway stations
long since out of action. Some of the older and smaller
hotels still stand to this day. Quite often, cricket
books dealing with tours long since forgotten fail
to capture the imagination and atmosphere surround
the tours but ‘Test of Time’ manages this
with ease.
A
great example of how times have changed can be found
in Stoddart’s summation of the tour given at
an after dinner speech. The England team had suffered
throughout the tour from barracking and by the conclusion
of the tour, Stoddart had had enough. The Australian
captain responded to Stoddart’s attack with
the following:-
In
response Trott said that he ‘agreed with Mr
Stoddart’s remarks about the crowds. They are
a perfect nuisance.’ He paused for the cheers
to die down before adding:’ And yet we cannot
do without them. I think the barrackers should be
stopped, and they could easily do it by sending a
few private detectives among the crowd.’ He
recounted how that had been done with some success
in Melbourne, and three men were taken to prison.
‘I think they got about a week, and there was
no more barracking there for about six months!’
This time laughter mingled with the cheers.
Stoddart
was plagued with bad luck throughout the tour, his
form was indifferent, he lost his mother and the final
straw came when his watch was stolen by a vociferous
crowd on arrival at a train station in Queensland.
The players were affected by the crowds in Australia
on and off the field as we can see from the passage
above. Trott (Australian captain) defended Stoddart’s
stance and also made his feelings public. One can
only compare the crowds of the late 19th century to
today’s ashes – if the same standard was
followed today, the prisons would be full of supporters
barracking for their country!
The
book contains scorecards of every test played, averages
of all the players on tour and a comprehensive look
at not only the test matches but every first class
and country game played. We learn how the players
relaxed on tour, the ‘segregation’ between
the gentlemen and players. All in all a
thoroughly enjoyable read and highly recommended.
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