Book Of The Year Award > 2010 > The Captains' Tales
THE CAPTAINS’ TALES Battle for the Ashes
David Fulton

David Fulton, a more than useful player and a very good captain of Kent has now become a journalist and broadcaster and still yearns to understand what distinguishes the great captains from the good and not so good. Here he looks to examine the merits of a series of Ashes captains, Ashes, because his view is that it is the ultimate test and the book covers his life from an early interest in cricket as a nine year old boy, captivated by Headingley, to the men who currently occupy the top positions for England and Australia. The concentration is on main appointed captains with occasional choices being excluded, although it might have been interesting to use a couple, say John Emburey, or Adam Gilchrist, as a counterpoint.

Seventeen captains are profiled and assessed, and the author has spoken to most, with some being more informative than others. The assessments are sympathetic generally, sometimes overly so, not much mention being made of Kim Hughes's bizarre field-settings to Ian Botham at Headingley or the tendency of that 1981 team to disintegrate, following the captain's frenetic manner at the crease. There is an element of Ponting there with both captains being seemingly unable to stop wickets falling in clusters, giving the air of a team beyond the captain's control. The book ends before the 2009 Ashes which might have amended the final verdict on Ponting. Perhaps too much admiration is given to captains such as Waugh or Border who encouraged and practiced a deliberate unpleasant attitude on and off the field during the series but expected opponents (especially beaten ones) to forgive and forget as soon as the series was over. Cricketers should try that attitude in real life and see how many people come back cheerfully to them when the unpleasant attitude is dropped and the antagonist wished to become a 'mate.'

At the end of the book, David Fulton gives us his capsule analysis of all the captains profiled and selects the best six, three from each side, with an eventual best English and Australian choice. It's certainly not fair to disclose the final choices as best captains but it is fair to say that both are a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately, the other profiles are not such a surprise. This is the kind of book that the reader begins, hoping to learn something new but eventually finds that most of what is imparted reflects accepted wisdom. That's not to say the imparted wisdom is incorrect and it's not a bad book by any means but the book itself does leave the reader slightly unsatisfied, feeling that maybe it represents a missed opportunity.

review by John Symons

Publisher
Mainstream Publishing Company (Edinburgh),
7 Albany Street,
Edinburgh EH1 3UG
£12.99