Book description
Magical book about Bert Sutcliffe, the magical batsman who put New
Zealand cricket on the map. This book is a tale of two men: one who
became the first hero of New Zealand cricket, and one whose lifelong
dream was to write his biography. Bert Sutcliffe, a stout-hearted giant
of the post-war cricketing world, never did get to see his long-awaited
story hit the press. He died in 2001 aged 77, leaving behind a trail of
re-written record books. And what records those were: whether it's the
stories about Sutcliffe's brace of centuries for Otago against the MCC
in 1947, about his two triple centuries in the Plunket Shield, his
heart-wrenching partnership with Blair at Johannesburg, or his heroics
at Kolkata during his comeback tour, there were no shortage of
highlights. It's not hard to understand Rod Nye's desire to write
Sutcliffe's biography. Quite apart from the sheer enormity of
Sutcliffe's influence on New Zealand cricket and his massive popularity
as a player, a full biography of his life and career had been long
overdue. Tragically, Nye, who had been nearing the completion of his
life's mission, died in 2004, leaving behind a treasure trove of
research on the remarkable batsman, much of it never before heard. In
The Last Everyday Hero, highly regarded cricketing writer and
commentator Richard Boock joins the talents of these two men and
completes the story. Many of those who have contributed to this book
have also since departed; it is New Zealand cricket's field of dreams.
Richard Boock has been a columnist with the Sunday Star-Times since
2007, having previously been the New Zealand Herald's chief cricket
writer for 10 years. He wrote Stephen Fleming's autobiography,
contributed to the internationally-acclaimed Ground Rules and ghosted
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori's autobiography. An award-winning
journalist, he was voted the country's best sports columnist for three
consecutive years by the New Zealand Sports Journalism Association and
in 2009 was named the Qantas Sports Columnist of the Year.
