Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Reading Time
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Highly Recommended
      • CBCA Short Listed
      • Early Childhood Books
      • Younger Readers
      • Intermediate Readers
      • Older Readers
      • ANZAC books
      • Great Read Alouds
      • Information Books
      • LGBTQIA+
      • Picture Books
      • Professional Development
    • Interviews
    • Suggestions
    • News
    • Meet The Review Team
    • Contact Us
    Reading Time
    You are at:Home»Reviews»Information Books»Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes

    Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes

    1
    By Admin on March 3, 2014 Information Books

    burning the bails

    BELL, Krista (text) Ainsley Walters (illus.) Burning the Bails: The Story of the Ashes One Day Hill, 2013 30pp $19.99 pbk ISBN 9780987313980 SCIS 1619902

    Cricket enthusiasts will embrace this production with enthusiasm.  While it is in narrative form, it is mostly factual, and packed with information.  The story is told through the eyes of Russell Clarke who when the book opens is on a deckchair ‘engrossed in his cricket book’ on board the Peshawur sailing home to Australia from England.  Russell is a cricket fan, so is drawn to a Miss Morphy, also on board and a friend of his mother.  Also on board are members of the England cricket team, captained by Ivo Bligh, a perfect gentleman.  In the course of the voyage Mr Clarke invites the team to spend Christmas week at the Clarke’s country residence in Sunbury.  So on Christmas Eve the All England cricket team play an Australian eleven.  During the course of the match Miss Morphy and Mrs Clarke discuss a London newspaper article about the ‘Ashes of English cricket’, whereupon Mrs Clarke proposes burning the bails from the day’s match and giving them to Mr Bligh as a memento to his stay in Australia.  The story goes on to detail how Russell proposes an urn for the ashes.  That urn was to become the trophy for future Test series between England and Australia.  This book fills out the tale through Russell’s eyes and the action is detailed in period style through the illustrations that capture the manners and protocol of the age; along with its Australian background.  But because it was Russell who decided that the ashes needed an urn, and the story tells how that urn came about, this is a tale to both enlighten and enthrall young cricket fans.

    Moreover the last seven pages of the book are devoted to the historic facts about the birth of the Ashes; the people, both adults and children, who were involved with the England v Australia in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Many young cricketers today would be ignorant of the human stories behind the history of the Ashes: for instance, that Mrs Anne Fletcher, the wife of the Secretary of the Paddington Cricket Club in NSW embroidered a purple velvet bag for the porcelain ‘urn’ of the Ashes that was presented to Mr Bligh by the Fletchers after the Sydney Test, that concluded on 30 January 1883.  Stories such as this should inspire today’s young cricketers by an understanding of a gentleman’s sport that of late has been the subject of criticism and, at times, internecine strife.  MS

    Australian history Australian sport cricket The Ashes

    Related Posts

    It’s Up to Us

    Walking in Gagudju Country: Exploring the Monsoon Forest

    Still Alive: Notes from Australia’s Immigration Detention System

    1 Comment

    1. Pingback: Reading Time on-line Review of Burning the Bails | Krista Bell Krista Bell

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    • Themes
    • Curriculum
    Action adventure Airplanes Alphabet Anxiety autism Bullying CBCA Awards Coming of age Dystopian emotions family fantasy friendship grief Historical humour magic Mystery Post apocalyptic Readers Cup reluctant readers school Sci-Fi series of books siblings Sport Starting school Teacher Notes
    ANZAC Australian animals Australian history Biography Culture & Diversity Disabilities First Nations Geography health Humanities mental health Poetry Reconciliation resilience Science STEM Stolen Generation sustainability Wordless books



    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    Recent Posts
    • It’s Up to Us
    • The Bravest Word
    • The Ghost Locket
    • The Ghost Locket
    • Enough Love?
    Recent Comments
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Emily Flint on Walk of the Whales
    © Copyright 2021 The Children’s Book Council of Australia - All rights reserved

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Posting....