Kim Hughes was one of the most majestic and daring batsmen to play for Australia in the last 40 years. Golden curled and boyishly handsome, his rise and fall as captain and player is unparalleled in cricketing history. He played several innings that count as all-time classics, but it's his tearful resignation from the captaincy that is remembered. Insecure but arrogant, abrasive but charming; in Hughes' character were the seeds of his own destruction. Yet was Hughes' fall partly due to those around him, men who are themselves legends in Australia's cricketing history? Lillee, Marsh, the Chappells, all had their agendas, all were unhappy with his selection and performance as captain - evidenced by Dennis Lillee's tendency to aim bouncers relentlessly at Hughes' head during net practice. Hughes' arrival on the Test scene coincided with the most turbulent time Australian cricket has ever seen - first Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket, then the rebel tours to South Africa. Both had dramatic effects on Hughes' career. As he traces the high points and the low, Christian Ryan sheds new and fascinating light on the cricket - and the cricketers - of the times.
Golden Boy
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"Excellent... Graphic... Shocking... Ryan has extracted some devastating testimony... If half of what we read here is true, two Australian legends should hang their heads in shame." --The Times
"Absolutely superb, one of the best cricket books I've read." --The Wisden Cricketer
"Extraordinary... A sad tale, told splendidly" --The Spectator
"The best cricket read of the year." --The Observer
"Absolutely superb, one of the best cricket books I've read." --The Wisden Cricketer
"Extraordinary... A sad tale, told splendidly" --The Spectator
"The best cricket read of the year." --The Observer
About the Author
Christian Ryan has edited Australian Wisden, Inside Edge and The Monthly, and has worked as a journalist on The Guardian. Several years of research, interviewing over a hundred players, officials and cricket followers, have enabled him to provide a fresh and often controversial perspective on a formative period of Australian cricket.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book has the major advantage of being written with hindsight and at a distance from the main protagonist. Suffice to say it is the antithesis of the very ordinary cricket (auto)biographies that grace the shelves with "X too fivefor, Y took threefor etc". Very well worth reading with some surprising revelations for those of us so far from Australia in the 1970s and 80s.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By P. Spencer
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Kim Hughes was one of my favourite batsmen when I was growing up and this book is a fascinating portrait of the man and what went on around him. Lillee and Marsh may have been great cricketers, but reading this book they come across as rather unsavoury characters who treated Hughes poorly.This book fills a gap nicely and I wish Kim Hughes all the best.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A terrific read and a great insight in to Australian cricket of the 70s / 80s, the Packer years and beyond. Hughes the man comes out of this with great credit. No-one appears to have a really bad word for him, even those who opposed him (even in his own team) during his test career.
Not quite unputdownable, this is non-the-less a very good read.
Not quite unputdownable, this is non-the-less a very good read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
SIMPLY BRILLIANT
This is one of the best available books on the world cricket scene.
The subject matter is Kim Hughes, one of the truly excellent natural players that Australia has... Read more
The subject matter is Kim Hughes, one of the truly excellent natural players that Australia has... Read more
Published 16 months ago by David P. Weber
3.0 out of 5 stars
Passionate and a little confusing
Christian Ryan is an engaging writer, passionate and emotional in his style. This has plus points and some drawbacks. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Stephen Hudson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hughes the entertainer
In many ways Kim Hughes always struck me as a throwback to a bygone era. His cavalier style of batting, with little regard for the match situation, would not have been out of place... Read more
Published 19 months ago by derbysteve
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cautionary tale of confidence
Kim Hughes is known for many things. Being on the receiving end of Botham's Ashes. Having one of the least successful records as Australian captain. Read more
Published 19 months ago by M. Lawrenson
4.0 out of 5 stars
kj hughes c marsh b lillee 0
Thank you Christian Ryan - this is a story that needed to be told. Hughes had his faults and it is valid to ask whether a batsman with his flamboyant style should have been... Read more
Published 21 months ago by obenyffordd
5.0 out of 5 stars
Golden idol or fatted calf?
I lived through much of the period covered by this book, and have a clear memory as a cricket mad boy of the tempestous mid 1980's in Australian cricket. Read more
Published on 20 April 2011 by John Middleton
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale from another nadir in Australian Cricket
The frustrations of supporting Australia during the period around World Series Cricket took more toll on one man than the rest of the nation put together. Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2011 by Dr. G. SPORTON
2.0 out of 5 stars
Don't bother
v boring book and a dull story - should have concentrated more on the '81 Ashes, as this is no doubt the reason most readers would buy this book. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2010 by Cookie
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