by Mayukh Ghosh
Joseph Romanos has written on cricket, rugby, netball, basketball, squash, tennis, athletics, coaches, a sports broadcasting legend and a novel!
But, like most others from his country, he is low-key and has gone about his work without creating much news.
Despite his interest and time being shared by so many sports, cricket has its own special place.
Initially, he wanted to become a cricketer.
“I would like to have been a cricketer, but I wasn’t good enough. I played junior cricket in Wellington with future test players Bruce Edgar, Ian Smith and Evan Gray. They were all outstanding and I clearly was not. I made up the numbers.
”So, after leaving school I studied to be a journalist and specialised in sports writing, for newspapers and magazines. Within a short time, I was writing about Edgar, Smith and Gray as they climbed through the cricket ranks.
“Sports journalism turned out to be a wonderful career for me. For more than four decades I wrote sports stories, columns and books and got to attend many of the world’s great sports events.
”Cricket has always been a special love, though. I’ve been lucky enough to write books with some of New Zealand’s finest cricketers, including Walter Hadlee, Merv Wallace, John R Reid, Martin Crowe and the aforementioned Ian Smith, and to get to know many of our country’s cricket legends.”
He was only eight when he discovered the joy of reading about the game. That joy, once found, usually remains for the lifetime. In Romanos’ case it is no different.
“I read my first cricket book when I was 8. I discovered a large box my father kept in a cupboard and inside found a treasure trove of old cricket books. The first two books I plucked out were the 1955 New Zealand Cricket Almanack, which had photos of Frank Tyson and Bob Blair on the cover, and A Cricket Pro’s Lot by Fred Root, an England inswing bowler of the 1920s and 30s. I have no idea why those books, with all those strange names, appealed to me, but I loved reading them.
“Soon I was reading books by Ray Lindwall, Pelham Warner, Bill O’Reilly, Frank Woolley, Jack Fingleton, E D H Sewell, Denis Compton, Walter Hammond, Louis Duffus, Learie Constantine, Richie Benaud, Herbert Sutcliffe and many others. Dad’s box of cricket books provided me with endless joy. My life course was set.”
When I requested him for a list of his favourite cricket books, he found it hard to limit it to ten. We agreed on fifteen but I could sense that has not been enough of a leeway to make it easier for him.
“To name my top 15 cricket books. A simple request on one level, but extraordinarily difficult on another. So many great books to be omitted.
“Anyway, my top 15, in chronological order:
The Cricket Match by Hugh de Selincourt, 1924: I never tire of reading this little book, which so captures the soul of English cricket.
England, Their England by A G Macdonell, 1933: The section about the English village cricket match is superb, all the more so considering it was written by a Scot.
Cricket Between Two Wars by Pelham Warner, 1943: I doubt this is a classic, but it introduced me to dozens of famous cricketers and so has remained special for me.
Pro by Bruce Hamilton, 1946: The poignant tale of Edward Lamb, a fictional county cricketer whose life descended into tragedy after his retirement.
Days in the Sun by Neville Cardus, 1948: Cardus has been criticised for being too fanciful and placing the romance of cricket over facts. But he was a wonderfully evocative and productive writer and this anthology is at times unmatchable.
The Book of Cricket by Denzil Batchelor, 1952: A good cricketer who became a great writer, whether on boxing, rugby, football, cricket or other aspects of life. Batchelor was always original and wrote with rare feeling.
The Art of Cricket by Don Bradman, 1958: A black and white cricket coaching book. No reverse sweeps or ramps, no mention of Twenty20 or helmets, but a book packed with top-class instruction, lots of photos and personal memories. Written by someone who knew about batting.
On Top Down Under by Ray Robinson, 1975: Any such list must have a Robinson book and this one, profiling Australian test captains, is my favourite.
Cricket’s Unholy Trinity by David Foot, 1985: Biographies of three unusual cricketers. The stories of Jack MacBryan and Cec Parkin are interesting enough, but the Charlie Parker tale lifts the book to the top rung.
The Playing Mantis by Jeremy Coney, 1986: A humorous, informative and perceptive autobiography, and ot a ghost writer in sight.
The Cricket War by Gideon Haigh, 1993: Most Haigh books could make a “best of” list, but this one dealt with a controversial subject in a manner that brooks no argument.
The Summer Game by Don and Paddianne Neely, 1994: The story of New Zealand cricket, told in hundreds of photos. Of all the memorable photos in this collection, the one of New Zealand soldiers playing cricket on the beach at Gallipoli to draw the Turks’ attention away from the evacuation is the most incredible.
Silence of the Heart: Cricket Suicides by David Frith, 2001: The topic sounds macabre, but the book is written with empathy and understanding, not surprising considering who wrote it.
A Corner of a Foreign Field by Ramachandra Guha, 2002: A big read and worth the time investment. I particularly loved the story of left-arm spinner Palwankar Baloo, who somehow rose above the Indian caste system to reveal his skill to the world.
Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket by David Kynaston and Stephen Fay, 2018: A biography of two giants of cricket journalism, so proud but so different.
“So, there are my 15 and not a mention of Fingleton or CLR James.
Each to their own – I found Fingleton too obsessed with sniggering at Bradman, and James too wordy and prone to wander off topic, which seems a bit rich given the praise they have received over the years. But it’s only one man’s opinion after all!”