Not much of a Biography bloke but Harold Larwood is not just another Fast Bowler. That I'm particularly passionate about the great art of Fast Bowling & its decorated & feted practitioners is something my pals are aware of and Larwood was easily, one of the earliest & the greatest of 'em all. That he was well before my time only adds to the romance & mystique surrounding his legend.
By all accounts, he was the most menacingly lethal Fast Bowler of all time bar none. Short (His lack of height actually helped him generate blinding quickness off the deck), spare & lean; Larwood was born gifted with the kind of pace that burned grass. Even with whatever li'l footage of his bowling videos that are available now, his action is typically classical & silken smooth.
"Bodyline" will never go away. Not ever. So the Cricket fans can stop kiddin' themselves. But this amazing Biography is much more than a detailed account of that momentous Series. Here, we see a proud and unapologetic Man who had the bloody courage to live life on his own terms amidst excruciating mental pressure. A man who valued integrity & self pride over money & personal ambition. We see a Man who almost broke his back hauling coal in remote Nuncargate and actually spilled blood bowling for England with a busted foot. We also learn of Douglas Jardine, the mythical figure who is praised & reviled in equal measure. Jardine must have been a real study - Aquiline nose, sculpted face, his Harlequin Cap prompting jeers & swears from the Aussie crowds bayin' for blood, his bloody minded ruthlessness & an almost fanatical obsession to win back the Ashes come what may, his contempt & distaste for all things Australian and then some. But Jardine was also a honourable Man Larwood trusted with his life. Till his death, Jardine was fiercely loyal & got the same loyalty from all his "wards" including his beloved Larwood.
"Lol" went back to the country that wanted to kill him & was eventually accepted as a model Citizen of the Country. As opposed to making money, he made a lot of worthy friends and when he said that that was what counted, you believed him. A lot of great Fast bowlers came on to the scene later & embellished Cricket but Harold Larwood was the template. Frank Tyson, Ray Lindwall, Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Waqar Younis et all had arguably more impressive figures (They tell only half the story) but there will be only one Larwood.
This book won the WISDEN Award in 2009 & rightly so. I've read only the Stephen Waugh biography (which I thought was a splendid & illuminating Cricketing biography) but this one transcends the genre itself.
Read. Enjoy. Then sigh back in content & imagine a scrawny Nottinghamshire lad with bright eyes glinting in the Sun,launch into a beautifully co-ordinated run-up before hurling another thunderbolt.
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