Bruce Yardley (1) (1947–2019)

Champion Australian off-spinner Bruce Yardley has self-published his memoirs covering his life in cricket. It's an interesting enough book as it bounces through its 130 pages with no longueurs to speak of. Being self-published however it falls victim to its clear lack of proofreading.

Cricket-wise, "Roo's Book" has it covered; we read of Yardley's upbringing and introduction to cricket, through his international career and his post-retirement coaching and commentating career. In many cases the self-publication is an asset as you're obviously getting Yardley's true voice come through, as opposed to the highly edited versions we get in other cricketing memoirs. The section on Yardley's friendship with some Indian beggars is very heartfelt and one feels something would have been lost if this was published by a mainstream publisher. However, the book gets minus points for its spelling mistakes (including the names of team mates) and its cavalier attitude to grammar and sentence structure.… (more)