Pitch Publishing have produced numerous excellent sports books over the years and 2024 has been an excellent one for them.Â
Barry Nicholls’ book is a fascinating look at the Australian cricketers who were plucked from the domestic game to take on full-strength international sides when Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket revolution was ongoing.Â
It was very much, as the book says, a parallel universe. World Series Cricket was all singing and dancing, a precursor to modern franchise cricket around the world, with the best pitted against the best.Â
It was very difficult for those who came into the Australian side. Not all of them were of the requisite standard and they were not especially well remunerated. The consolation was that they were now international players, although that might have been of scant consolation when they were sitting targets for the quick bowlers of the period, or handling the combined wiles of the great Indian spin quarter.
This is a book of fascinating stories, broken friendships and new experiences, with 41-year-old Bob Simpson returning to Test cricket after an absence of ten years to lead a relatively unknown group of players in the traditional form of the game.Â
For players like Allan Border, Kim Hughes and Rodney Hogg there were to be good international careers when normality resumed. Others were not so lucky.
I especially enjoyed reading what happened to the participants afterwards. Some of their stories were better known than others, but I learned stuff from this book, always a good thing.Â
It is a tale that needed to be told and the book has been well-researched. I really enjoyed it and it is well worth looking out for.
The Establishment Boys – the Other Side of Kerry Packers Cricket Revolution is written by Barry Nicholls and published by Pitch Publishing
