FREE GOLDEN BOY: AND THE BAD OLD DAYS OF AUSTRALIAN PDF

Christian Ryan | 448 pages | 01 Sep 2010 | Allen & Unwin | 9781742374635 | English | St Leonards, Australia Writing The Best Cricket Book Ever: Christian Ryan | Interview | Wisden

Kim Hughes should have been a superstar. He should have averaged 50 in . Instead he averaged It's a horribly unjust legacy, yet also strangely apposite. Hughes's career was a glorious kind of tragedy. It is one of the great cricket biographies, at once unputdownable and also unpickupable, because you pick it up you will eventually finish it, and what are you going to do then? Hughes was undeniably a genius, with the qualities of the Prom King, yet perversely these led to un popularity. Hughes was not entirely blameless, but in essence he was a thoroughly decent man whose apparent destiny to Australia happily ever after was compromised by factors beyond his control. His story is harder than most to distil. The main themes are the mutinous behaviour of senior players while he was Australian captain, the only partial fulfilment of his rare ability, and a horrible, grubby ending to his international career: a tearful resignation, two runs in his last four Tests, and finally a rebel tour to South Africa. In a sense Hughes was the boy who had too much talent — and also who, in the opinion of many grizzled team-mates, never stopped being a boy. There are two ways of looking at it: his detractors say he never grew up, his disciples say he was forever young. Most if not all would concur that Hughes was ultimately Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket by his ability. He never quite came to grips with its parameters, and he was subject to the same absurd mistrust of naked talent as , particularly when he succumbed to one of his many soft dismissals. The hype about his ability meant that almost every dressing room he entered were already suspicious of him. All they had been told about was this luminescent young talent; so even though Hughes had done nothing wrong, he was treated with the contempt usually reserved for the teacher's pet. One chapter in Ryan's book is called 'Dead animals, bloody turds, old apples, sponge cakes …'. They are just some of the things that were dumped in Hughes's cricket bag by senior players at his first club Subiaco. The hostility from older players was a recurring theme of Hughes's career, even when he became Australian captain. They couldn't relate to him. Hughes was a dreamer in a dressing-room full of testosterone-heavy pragmatists like , Rodney Marsh and , who once threw a punch at Hughes during a Test in West Indies. Lillee thought his mate Marsh should be captain. He was probably right. Marsh had a sharper cricket brain than Hughes and is, along with , Australia's great lost captain. But Lillee's response to Hughes's promotion was more than a little dubious. In the nets, Lillee would bowl line and length to everyone, until Hughes arrived. Then he would come on off his long run and ram in a series of bouncers. Hughes needed an X-ray before the start of , with fears that Lillee had broken his forearm. In Golden Boy, the former Australian batsman Craig Serjeant describes the time Lillee followed through to collect a bouncer and said 'Sorry'. This went on for years. Hughes did not complain once. The tears upon resigning the captaincy make it easy to conclude that he was weak, yet the situation was far more complex than that. Hughes was put under an incomparable strain, yet still managed to bounce back almost every time. He was also Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket courageous, as he showed in the nets against Lillee — and during his defining , an unbeaten against the West Indies attack of , , Colin Croft and on a Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian at in Nobody else passed , no fan of Hughes, rated it as the greatest post-war innings by an Australian. That was one of three extraordinary innings in the space of 18 months. His outrageous against India at Adelaide a year earlier showcased his thrilling propensity to charge the fast bowlers, before thrashing a series of scintillating cover drives for four, while his 84 in the of was one of the most brilliant attacking innings ever played at Lord's. It included one remarkable shot off Chris Old that, according to some, was still rising when it struck the top deck of the pavilion. , commentating at the time, described it as "one of the biggest hits I've seen for many, many a year". Hughes retained an amateur attitude to , and never quite found the balance between wanting to entertain and Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket to score runs. It's one of the many reasons why he is one of the more charming and interesting cricketers of modern times. He is now great friends with Lillee and Marsh, a bizarre and unexpected postscript. To enter the competition, email rob. To sign up click here. Andy Bull is back next week. Topics Australia cricket team The Spin. Cricket blogposts. Reuse Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket content. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Most popular. Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket by Christian Ryan

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Golden Boy by Christian Ryan. Kim Hughes was one of the most Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket and daring batsmen to play for Australia in the last 40 years. Golden curled and boyishly handsome, his rise and fall as captain and player is unparalleled in our cricketing history. He played at least three innings that count as all-time classics, but it's his tearful resignation from the captaincy that is remembered. Insecure but a Kim Hughes was one of the most majestic and daring batsmen to play for Australia in the last 40 years. Insecure but arrogant, abrasive but charming; in Hughes' character were the seeds of his own destruction. Yet was Hughes' fall partly due to those around him, men who are themselves legends in Australia's cricketing history? Lillee, Marsh, and the Chappells, all had their agendas, all were unhappy with his selection and performance as captain—evidenced by Dennis Lillee's tendency to aim bouncers relentlessly at Hughes' head during net practice. As he traces the high points and the low, Chris Ryan sheds new and fascinating light on the cricket—and the cricketers—of the times. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published March 1st by Allen Unwin first published January 3rd More Details Other Editions 6. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Golden Boyplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. It must be appreciated that this review is written by an Englishman, born in As such, my earliest cricketing memory was Headingley, I knew something amazing was happening because of the delirious nature of my parents towards the game that they normally fell asleep watching. As such I had no appreciation of what Messrs. Botham and Willis were doing, I could only assume that it was worth being awake for. Alan Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket was the first Australian cricket captain that I can remember, a harbing It must be appreciated that this review is written by an Englishman, born in Alan Border was the first Australian cricket captain that I can remember, a harbinger of endless English misery. When it comes to making a balls up of things, I always thought Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket the ECB stood head and shoulders above any other cricketing authority. Ryan highlights their biggest problem of greed. Greed that would contribute to players going on rebel tours of South Africa. But, as the title suggests, this book is essentially about just one man, Kim Hughes. Being English, being born inI knew very little about Kim Hughes. Barnum, part Frank Spencer. A sort of cricketing hybrid of Mariah Carey and Mr. Just like Barnum and Carey, Hughes was phenomenally talented, and just like Barnum and Carey, Hughes wanted to entertain. His attempts to entertain were often as memorable for their failures as their successes. Because of this, the book can be a little uncomfortable to read at times, as Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket goes from one escapade to another, shooting himself in one foot then the other. Ryan depicts a character that you can feel genuine warmth towards one minute, turn the page and then be considering him a complete dick. Lille and Marsh appear as selfish and egotistical opportunists. View 1 comment. Interesting in a sense of it being an insight into a strange time for Australian sport but not very well written and if you don't have a strong knowledge of Cricket from that time it is tough to follow. Oct 20, Pradeep E rated it really liked it. I came across this book on Twitter from an online quiz conducted by a sports twitter handle, where one of the questions was - Which book was adjudged as the best ever cricket book recently by Wisden? Pleasantly surprised and quite oblivious to the presence of such a book, it piqued my curiousity and so I picked up this book. Anyone who knows a bit of cricket history of the 80s has heard of Kim Hughes - the Aussie bloke who cried and resigned as the skipper of the team in a press conference. But I came across this book on Twitter from an online quiz conducted by a sports twitter handle, where one of the questions was - Which book was adjudged as the best ever cricket book Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket by Wisden? But beyond that, there is very little that I had heard of a man who apparently was a prodigious player who was expected to leapfrog into one of the finest batsmen Down Under but sunk gradually into an abyss of under performances before finally fading out of everyone's consciousness. Kim Hughes burst into the Australian team during one of the most tumultous phases that they were going through - the Packer era - and faced innumerable challenges on and off the field and it took a toll on him till he finally called it quits. The Packer era ensured the team was abandoned by most seniors for the World Series Games adorned by top players across the world, leaving a bare bones team fighting against the rest of the opposition. And when they returned, he apparently fell out of favour with the Big Three of Aussie cricket in that era - , Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh, which ensured that he could never control the team that he was asked to lead. Strong oppositions, lack of proper management, poor support from the team mates and frequent critcism from the media got to him. Finally, after being dropped from the national team, an ill-fated tour to to play the banned South African team in apartheid ridden country ensured that his career soon come to an end. While the word world is in awe of the cricketing exploits of Waugh's and Ponting's teams, the gross mismanagement, lack of professionalism no coach, lack of permanent managers, poor media handling and struggle of the team in the 80s is quite an eye opener. But anyone who follows the game also knows too well that this was not something limited to the Aussie team; remember the Indian team virtually revolting against the poor remunerations they had! Team conflicts are par for course in all sports but situations where the lead bowler repeatedly tries to bounce off the captain in the nets, player Rodney Hogg punches the captain, the seniors of the team become extremely non-cooperative with the young captain because of personal ambitions Rodney Marsh wanted to be the leader but young Kim was given the mantle is shocking to say the least. However, while Christian is clearly sympathetic to the subject of his book, he also makes it a point to showcase Kim's glaring weaknesses. His penchant to play to entertain instead of focussing on the win ensured that he let the team down on many occasions and Chrisitan reiterates this many a time. Kim appears to be over confident about his skills and pretty vocal about his captaincy ambitions which made many uncomfortable around him. He was candid about what he wanted but in a team moulded by Ian Chappell's style of playing it hard and giving it to the opposition remember 's theory of 'mental disintegration'he was a loner and not the quintessential Australian cricketer. The main downer in this book for me was that if you do not follow cricket, you might not really enjoy it. Lot of references come in from here and there and a non-follower of the game might feel lost without sufficient explanations. Also, the fact that a lot of events do not follow chronology and keep moving across time, which kind of makes it difficult to link incidents and situations. It also takes a little while to get into the feel of the book with all the details on domestic cricket, after which you cannot put it down. Kim was a dazzling strokemaker, with the audacity to come down to the pitch to fast bowlers and play ferocious cuts and hooks but maybe without the burden of captaincy, he could have been a great Aussie batsmen but alas that was not to be. Apr 12, Dave Lockyer rated it really liked it. Fascinating tell all story of one of Australia's most graceful batsmen and and a highly combustible time in Australian cricket. The passages describing Hughes' batting are superb almost putting you at the batting crease with himincluding my favourite memory of him advancing down the pitch to England fast bowler Chris Old at Lords and straight driving the ball into the top de Fascinating tell all story of one of Australia's most graceful batsmen and and a highly combustible time in Australian cricket. The passages describing Hughes' batting are superb almost putting you at the batting crease with himincluding my favourite memory of him advancing down the pitch to England fast bowler Chris Old at Lords and straight driving the ball into the top deck of the grandstand. Covering all of Kim Hughes life from growing up in country as the son Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket a school teacher through to the end of his playing career and beyond this is a must read for cricket fans of all ages. May 01, Amod Sugiyama rated Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket it was amazing. Best cricket book I've ever read and I have read a few! It is a sad story but the one needed to be told. Do and Dennis Lillee regret their actions now? I really hope they do. Kim Hughes was one of my cricketing idols when i was growing up. Ironically my other two were Greg Chappell and Dennis Lillee, given the relationships between the three in the course of their career. This is a terrific book, not only of Hughes' career, but the turbulent era that surrounded his career in the times of Australian cricket. It is a bold telling of the story, with plenty of bones lain bare for all to read about. The only sticking point is the people who made Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket unavailable for Kim Hughes was one of my cricketing idols when i was growing up. The only sticking point is the people who made themselves unavailable for interviews by the author, including Hughes himself and his closest confidantes, and Lillee and Rod Marsh amongst others. Their testimony along the way could have been instructive, but quotes from them from other sources still illuminated the story. Christian Ryan has done a great job here, and it was a trip down memory lane for me - through those troubled times being an Australian cricket lover in the 's Feb 04, A rated it really liked it. Should be one of the best biographies ever. Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket - Christian Ryan - Google книги

Issue 19 of Wisden Cricket Monthly includes a special feature on the finest cricket books ever written, and here are the results. Article supported by Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket. And when setting Rain Men against the others, argued Daisy, the rest felt so much bigger. Issue 19 of Wisden Cricket Monthly includes a special feature on the finest cricket books ever written. Then to Beyond a . After a murmur of agreement, and more back and forth, the one truly iconic book in the canon was respectfully consigned; if not entirely satisfactorily. Dare Golden Boy: Kim Hughes and the Bad Old Days of Australian Cricket make a criticism of Birley, asked Lawrence. One does feel that there was a fair bit of padding. And so to Golden Boy itself. But it goes beyond cricket, argued Daisy. And that seems to me something that is transcending the genre in which it exists. It is the best-written, most interesting and most sophisticated book on the shortlist. And so it fell to Lawrence. He blurs the line between reality and fiction, and as Tom says, he plays with the possibilities of cricket brilliantly. My vote would go to Chris Ryan. It turned out to be the clincher. A consensus had formed. With Tom fuming in his own front room, we had our winner. Golden Boy. The finest cricket book ever written. Pick up a copy here. You must be logged in to post a comment. Golden Boy: Kim Hughes. Have Your Say Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Join our mailing list Get the latest news, recommended reading and offers sent to your inbox. Email subscribe Enter your email address.