Malleson at Melbourne

Book Details: Hardback edition published by London, Museum Press, 1956. First Edition Sleeve notes: This unusual novel tells the story of an imaginary Test tour of Australia - imaginary, but so vividly described that the reader will find himself believing that it actually took place.  Right from the beginning of the tour there were difficulties. Newspaper correspondents prophesised disaster because the captaincy had been given to Malleson, who was said to be too old for the job. He also faced the open resentment of his vice-captain, Clarkson, who had wanted the captaincy for himself. Then the young Clinton, a fast bowler on whom Malleson had stubbornly pinned so many of his hopes, began to falter and endanger the chances of the M.C.C. side, it seemed that final humiliation was inevitable.  Rarely has there been so brilliant a  story of  the noblest of all games and the human problems of its players. It cannot fail to provoke enthusiasm from cricket enthusiasts and from the ordinary novel reader in search of something unusual.  A.A. Thompson says: Malleson at Melbourne can be enjoyed either as a straight cricket story, a thoughtful novel of character, or as an absorbing psychological thriller culminating in a Test game as exciting as Jessop’s match. Book source: Peter Stevenson