Book Review - The Magic of Spin by Ashley Mallett

 The Magic of Spin: Australia's Greatest Spin Bowlers by Ashley Mallett

Melbourne: Hardie Grant Books, 2019      ISBN 9781743795781

Cricket is coming - India has arrived on our shores, and it's not long now until the first Test in what could very well be an enthralling series. Most years at this time I get myself into gear for the season with a couple of (hopefully) good books. Ashley Mallett - until the advent of Nathan Lyon Australia's most successful off-spinner - usually delivers, with well-written and informative tomes. This one is a little quirkier than some of his other works, and may well be the last book he wrote before his death in 2021.

If it was, the subject matter couldn't be more appropriate - Mallett was a firm believer in the value of spin bowling in the highest levels of cricket, and spent much time coaching after his playing days were over. The Magic of Spin is Mallett's personal paean to Australia spinners past and present, and to the ongoing legacy that is handed down from (cricketing) generation to generation.

All the expected names are here - Giffen, Turner, Trumble, Noble, Mailey, Grimmett, O'Reilly, Benaud, Mallett, Bright, May, MacGill, Warne and Lyon. There are also those of the second rank, and also those that never got the chance to play Test cricket, but whom Mallett thought could have, or were great servants at first class level. Each player gets a varying number of pages, from two (Bill Howell, Don Blackie, Doug Ring, David Sincock, Tom Veivers) to fifteen (Shane Warne). Those pages contain all sorts of information - from Arthur Mailey's conversations with the King, to Terry Jenner's ideas about coaching, Benaud's stints as a commentator, down to Mallett's own peregrinations as a journalist. It may not be pure cricket, but it does give a sense of the different characters that make up this long-suffering tribe of sportsmen.

If there is a theme that runs through the book, it is the willingness of the tribe to pass down its secrets. From CTB Turner advising Bill O'Reilly to stick with his unorthodox grip, to Clarrie Grimmett sharing the secrets of his flipper, to Terry Jenner explaining spin-bowling strategy to Shane Warne, to Mallett himself (who gratefully received advice from Grimmett) advising a young Nathan Lyon on his follow-through, each generation of spinners has built on the hard-won knowledge of their predecessors.

While I would in no way suggest this is a great cricket book, it is a great way to whet the appetite for the upcoming summer, and to dip back into history to relive some great cricketing moments.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell

Book Review - A History of Modern Japan by Richard Storry

 A History of Modern Japan by Richard Storry

London: Penguin Books, 1990 (revised edition published 1982)  ISBN 014013512X

This is a good, if somewhat dated, political history of Japan focussing on the Meiji period and beyond. At 300 paperback pages covering 150 years of history, it is necessarily brief, but no less informative for that. Storry begins his history with a brief overview of Japanese history prior to Perry's mission to Japan, writing about the rise and fall of the Emperors, Shoguns and Tokugawa, explaining that while Perry's visit and ultimatum to the government was a major factor in the cataclysmic changes that overtook Japan, there were other internal pressures that were also released by the Black Ships arrival.

One thing that is conveyed well by this book is the fact that in a generation and a half Japan changed from a feudal aristocracy into a modern industrialised country, more along the lines of Germany than Britain, but perhaps with a British sense of empire and mission.

Before the war Japan was not a democracy in the modern sense - with limited suffrage, the state was ruled by a small group of aristocrats, business men and the military. The military successes against Russia in 1904-5 gave the Army and Navy greater prestige, enough to enable them to destroy any government by withholding their ministers. This power, in combination with a resurgent sense of nationalism, led the Army in particular to dream dreams of expansion in Asia. Dreams that the Army acted on without the approval of the government. 

The weakness of the various cabinets that were formed in the 1920s and 30s meant that inexorably Japan was drawn deeper and deeper into their Manchurian adventure, their Korean annexation, and eventual invasion of China. The World looked on askance, but had it's own problems to deal with, and didn't focus on Japan's aggression until it was very much too late. Meanwhile in Japan itself, those political actors who understood that Japan could not conquer China, defeat Russia and take over the Pacific at the same time were sidelined or assassinated.

The Pacific War came to Japan even though most in the Navy and the government didn't want it. Their feeling was that the West, with its sanctions, forced them into action. Japan didn't have the infrastructure, industry or manpower to win all the battles it picked, and their defeat was total.

The rebuilding of Japan, and its ability to put the past behind it and turn into a modern democracy, is testament to the spirit of the Japanese people - in eighty years they went from feudalism to an empire, and after the war they went from abject surrender to the second biggest economy in the World. Storry tells us that Japanese inquisitiveness and willingness to learn from others are key attributes that enabled them to build and build again.

For a quick update on modern Japanese history, that deals well with the confusion of the 1930s in particular, this is worth a read.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell