Cricket Kings, by William McInnes. Hodder, 2006. ISBN 0-7336-2049-3, RRP $32.95, website.
According to one newspaper, William McInnes is unique among Australian authors. In spring 2006, McInnes had both works of non-fiction and fiction in the respective "top ten" best seller lists. The autobiographical A Man’s Got to Have a Hobby, a saying of McInnes’ father, and the novel Cricket Kings are related thematically in that both concern masculinity, inter-generational relationships, social change and Australian suburbia.
Chris Anderson is captain of Yarraville West "fourths" whose home ground is the Cec Bull oval. Chris’ tale begins on a Friday, as he intersperses his work as a solicitor for the public sector union with his passion for finding a team for the last game of the season. Although the story concludes the next day as the match unfolds, McInnes skilfully employs flashbacks and other devices to portray the life of the Anderson family through four generations. He also expands the story horizontally as players remember past experiences, from inner Melbourne to a medical mission in Africa.
The prompts and nudges are many and varied. As a wedding car cruises around waiting for a bride to be ready, Chris reflects on his own wedding. He remembers how Julie, his wife, accused him of liking cricket because it allowed him to play with himself in public. Chris’ mind drifts to his vasectomy "on the edge of eternity" as he became a "slightly sore dud entry in the reproductive race". It happens to be hard rubbish day, when "people throw out so many things. So many broken dreams and good intentions." Chris reflects that "Bull Oval had once been a tip" and now it was a playground. He ponders the suburban passion for renovations and notes that people at barbecues talk about their tradesmen and architects the way they used to talk about hobbies or pets. "Whatever happened to footy or cricket?".
Chris laments a "world of uncertainty and fear (that) we’re buying into". He wonders "why do we fear… life?" and cannot understand what there is to fear "on a day like today". Although he is big and loud and swears in front of his son Lachlan, Chris is warm, sincere and generous. He interrupts the match because an African woman, not knowing that the route is unserviced on the weekend, is sitting in the heat at a nearby bus seat. He and Doctor Michael Martin