Glenn McGrath: Line and Strength

[baggy_blogger]

Glenn McGrath: Line and Strength book review

Glenn McGrath: Line & Strength
Glenn McGrath and Daniel Lane
Copyright © Glenn McGrath 2009
Yellow House Press (Great Britain) and Random House (Australia)
ISBN: 9780224082877

The McGrath story is one of strength. Strength emotionally, mentally and physically.
The book title couldn't have painted a better image within the cricket viewers mind if you know the finer details of Glenn's story.
When you read 'Line and Strength' (a play on the bowling term Line and Length, which was the most apt way to describe Glenn's bowling), you will be taken further into the views of not only Glenn, but those who know him, and knew him, and exactly why the title set's up the journey which you will read about.

As a legend of the Baggy Green and one of the most inspiring bowlers of his era (known as the Warne/McGrath era) it was excellent that Dennis Lillee, a fast-bowling legend from an era before Glenn, had the opportunity to write the book's forward.
He analytically looks at the simplicity of Glenn's, at times, near-perfect line and pestering length to the batsman who faced him during his bowling duties.
The story is split into three parts, looking at his early life leading up to his break into the New South Wales squad, then his International career's span and finally the sunset stages of his career with a detailed look into his personal challenges in his life.
I enjoyed the way the book has the approach of a biography, written by Daniel Lane, but it still has the feel of an autobiography.
As the story is told by Lane, Glenn is regularly giving his honest input on the various events, recalling the memories in Narromine, NSW, where he grew up and how he fell in love with the game, while also sharing the special and heart-breaking experiences in his life as he grew older.
There are also valuable contributions from his wife, the late Jane McGrath, his family and cricketers (team-mates and opponents) such as; Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, coach John Buchanan and even Michael Atherton regarding their Ashes combats. These are just a few of the contributors!

The great thing about this cricket book is that is doesn't just consume your attention with cricket, cricket and more cricket.
I appreciate autobiographies that reveal the more 'human side' of the person involved and their lives away from their respective career/s.
He is open about mistakes he made on the field (the famous yet unfortunate sledging incident with Ramnaresh Sarwan) and the challenges or frustrations that a cricketer experiences.
Glenn contributes lovingly about his passion for his cricket (and his 'never give-in' attitude to his batting), but importantly to that of his team-mates and family.
The book articulates the importance of his children to him, especially after Jane passed away. The beaity of the book is knowing the legacy she, Jane, has left behind with the McGrath foundation, and we get a more intimate look as to how they founded their vision into such a great cause to help women who suffer from breast cancer, like Jane did yet fought so courageously.
The book has a post-script for Jane written by Glenn which was added to the book after she passed away, and this closing section of the book ends it on an emotionally captivating note, I guess making the read of one a very special quality.

It was a great read that wasn't all stats and boring on-field recollections.
It doesn't drag on too long to shift the readers attention, but gives enough insight into the different chapters of Glenn McGrath's admirable career.
There is a statics section of Glenn's career (bowling and batting) as well as a bite-sized time line looking at the major milestones in his career for the Stat followers.
There's also two sections with colour images for the reader too look at, just to generate a better scene as one reads the book.

It a little over 400 pages, so it's a fairly committed read, but it's one I would suggest to any McGrath fanatic or someone who enjoys the indepth stories of international sportsmen, and a person who respects the modern games challenges involved.
If is a relatively thick bind so it may have possible additional postage costs if you order from an online book store.
On a personal note, as a youngster I grew up watching Glenn's career closely as when I began to watch and follow cricket, Glenn's career was starting to emerge.
Reading the book brought back some cricket memories that seemed to have been forgotten along the way and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Glenn's story!
It is one book for my cricketing collection I'm pleased to have on my shelf and I realised what a Champion he really is.

[aussie1st]

Your summary is probably as close to reading the book that I will get Sounds very McGrath like and interesting hearing about his theory on batting.