On Warne by Gideon Haigh (Epub)

Description

Gideon Haigh, one of the world’s most celebrated cricket journalists, tackles this great personality in his unique style. How has Warne shaped sport and how has sport has shaped him? Who is the real man behind the back page and front page headlines?

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Excellent writing style makes for a captivating narrative of one of cricket’s genuine historic characters. Cricket lovers everywhere will find this a very arresting read. Caps off to Gideon Haigh.

⭐In parts beautifully written, this book goes a long way towards explaining the phenomena and genius of cricket, leg-spin bowling, and Warne. People put off by his apparent boorishness and apparently unaccountable celebrity, even those who have no appreciation of cricket, may find this book edifying, entertaining, and educative. It’s less about Warne, and more about what Haigh calls ‘Warnitude’, a state of mesmerising charisma (yes!), optimism, pleasure in contest and skill, and a kind of open chicanery.

⭐I don’t dislike Shane Warne. In fact I believe he was denied his rightful shot at captaincy, his extra curricular activities are his own personal affair and that he always turned up to give his best whenever he played. He was too much of a ‘megalomaniac’ to not do so (in some respects he reminds me of Arnold Schwarzenegger and something his old body building friends said of his chances of being a great governor because he was too proud and arrogant to fail). The author, for his attempts at being unbiased, is falling flat on his face. He is enamored with Warne and his writing is more an apology for everything Warne did which created problems for him. As per the author, Warne took money from bookies because he was upset with the board, he took diuretics to please his mother etc.This tasteless favoritism aside, the writing style is delightful, romantic, well constructed and creatively expressed. Shane Warne is a legend and undeniably the greatest spin bowler to place foot on a cricket field but he was also a human who has all the baggage of being one. On the whole, his life was exciting to read about and the author has managed to cover the major happenings in Warne’s life admirably.This is a definite buy for cricket enthusiasts all over the world.

⭐It is about time someone took an objective look at the personality that is Shane Warne. At last a distinction is drawn between Warne the cricketer and Warne the phenomenon. Thoroughly enjoyed the book.

⭐On Warne provides plenty of insight into the complex character of the world’s greatest ever spin bowler. Written in an engaging, conversational style, it entertains and informs without skipping the less admirable aspects of Shane Warne. Haigh obviously knows his subject very well and writes from an insider’s position. The book also throws light on other players in the great Assie team of the time – Waugh brothers, McGrath, Stuart McGill.A very good read.

⭐If you’re looking for a biography of Shane Warne, the man, find another book. But if you’re looking for a book which tells the story of Warne the cricketer, this is it. Haigh confirms his reputation of being the best cricket writer with this book.

⭐Haigh gets under the skin and into the psyche of the Australian cricketing great in a way that previous biographies have not attempted. Absorbing and very well written.

⭐An excellent discussion on Warne which does not follow the path of yet another biography. Gideon Haigh provides many interesting comments on what makes Warne and allows readers to form their own opinions from those observations. A great read..

⭐Very well written, captures Warne on and off the field. The word genius is banded about all too often these days but this bowler undeniably merits that title, without a shadow of doubt. I cherish every game I saw him play in, even when he bamboozled English batsmen with his guile as he often did. Even the great Ashes series of 2005 when England finally ended Aussie domination after 16 years of torture……Warne went down fighting and took 40 wickets, amazingly finishing on the losing side. If you picked a world Cricket team from the history of the game he would without doubt be the Spinner and the first name on the team sheet.

⭐Gideon Haigh is probably the best writer on cricket in the world today.Here he takes Shane Warne as his subject, and analyses him and uses Warne as a prism to assess the state of cricket, the state of masculinity and in fact the Australian nation himself.This isn’t through any major new knowledge or interviews, simply through sifting through the evidence with his customary intelligence, and opening it up to a wider perspective.In different sections, he takes Warne the leg spinner, Warne the Test cricketer, Warne and ‘cheating’ (the minor betting information offence, for which he feels Warne was harshly treated, and the more foolish issue of diuretics to return to fitness, for which he feels Warne got what he deserved) and Warne the celebrity.To give an example of his work, in the section on bowling, he notes four phases in Warne’s bowling career: Phase 1: 1993-6, when the novelty of the phenomenal rip he gave the ball terrorised batsmen; Phase 2: 1997-2002, when he was occasionally outshone by Stuart Magill and was a lesser force; Phase 3: 2003-6 when he applied his experience and refined his genius to be better than ever, and Phase 4: to the present day, when he still turns his arm over in T20 matches. Within each, he explains why it happened, for example in Phase 2, how he prefers to be the ‘go to’ man, and was inhibited by Magill. Backed up by stats only where necessary, this is a brilliant book.

⭐I have read most biographies and the autobiography of Shane Warne. This is easily the best book. Haigh does a superb job of classifying Warne’s career into Warne 1.0 to Warne 4.0 and how he adapted himself during each phase. I also enjoyed the analysis of Warne’s relationships with McGrath, S Waugh, MacGill and Buchanan. These throw a completely different light on the dynamics within the great Australian side. It was not all “hunky dory” when it came to relationships between Warne and S Waugh, Gilchrist and even Ponting, in the later years. Haigh is insightful in many places. For example, he observes that bowling partnerships, are a zero sum game, which creates its own conflicts as there are only 20 wickets to take whereas there is no such limit for a batting partnership.There are three areas of the book where I feel Haigh has either not been objective or explored concepts fully:1. Warne’s record against India. Haigh mentions that Warne was injured on the 1998 tour and was just recovering from injury on the 2001 tour. He also mentions that Warne should have bowled a more restrictive line within the stumps when bowling in India. This does not go far enough for me for Warne’s record against India is the one blot on a great career. He does not, for example, mention that Warne 1.0 never played a test against India or how Warne could have bowled more effectively.2. He has not been objective with the diuretic episode that got Warne banned from the 2003 World Cup. It is too simple to accept that Warne took a tablet, given by his mother, to look good ahead of a World Cup. There was no question of his doing so to enhance his performance as he was not playing cricket during that time. It was certainly worth Haigh exploring whether he would have taken steroids, and a diuretic subsequently to mask the intake, to heal his shoulder injury, faster, to play in his last World Cup.3. I accept that it is for Warne’s wife, and not the media, or the fans to judge Warne for his dalliances with women. Even allowing for this, Haigh goes way too far to try to explain the potential reasons (e.g. how easy it is for male sports celebrities to flirt with women) on why Warne gets into these relationships. He eventually stops saying that offering further reasons is speculating since he knows and his objective is to analyse Warne the cricketer and not the person. But he has already gone too far before stopping.For these three reasons, I rate this book with four stars instead of five. If your vocabulary is only as good as mine, I would recommend reading this book on a Kindle as Haigh’s style is very expansive with his choice of words (even the Kindle’s dictionary gives up on some words). The Kindle helps you look up meanings of words immediately rather than having a dictionary open on the side with a hardback or a paperback.

⭐The best cricket writer around delivers seamlessly once again. Rather like Warne himself without having to try too hard I suspect. That’s it for me now. No need to have any other book on the great man. This gives you all you need to know and, thankfully, and unlike some other books, doesn’t dwell on what you don’t need to know. Reading his work is always an enjoyable and educational English lesson too. Thank goodness fir the built in dictionary on my kindle!

⭐As a cricket fan, I have loathed and admired Warne. His skill is there for all to see. Some of his antics on the field, as in the recent “Big Bash” make me ashamed to have admired him. Written for an Australian audience, I was left wondering if this book really took me much further.Only for cricket lovers

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