A truly genuine Kiwi hero
08/30/2010 02:03:37 AM
'The 300 Club' showed that Sutcliffe was not out on the Friday night of the game and dismissed on the Saturday afternoon. In the remainder of the day Canterbury was left 91-9 on the eve of the rest day on Sunday with the win being completed very soon after the start on the Monday morning.
The book has a marvellous statistical breakdown of Sutcliffe's career and also includes an appropriate epilogue acknowledging Nye's work in preparing the groundwork for Boock's writing.
Sutcliffe was very much a candidate for The Last Everyday Hero and in times of turmoil for cricket after reading the book there is little doubt that his response to recent events would be a case of 'what has the world come to?'
There will always be a place for sportsmen like Bert Sutcliffe no matter how much games are professionalised. And it is wonderful that there is now a complete biography of Sutcliffe to accompany that of the other great left-hander, and his outstanding team-mate in 1949, Martin Donnelly.