Frank Tyson shows (off) his scholarly background in this review of the 1975/76 West Indies tour of Australia. For in the second sentence of "The Hapless Hookers", he is already making references to Roman Gods and later quotes Walter Scott and never passes on the opportunity to use 100 words to describe something when 20 would have been quite sufficient.

Still, Tyson gives a decent enough recount of the series, comfortably won by Australia (the hapless hookers of the title refer to the West Indian batsmen), and gives us glimpses into West Indies captain Clive Lloyd's development of the West Indies team that would dominate world cricket for over a decade. Lloyd saw the damage Lillee and Thomson incurred on the West Indies and set about building a fearsome fast bowling attack of his own, centred around Andy Roberts and Michael Holding, who both make appearances here (Roberts more successfully than Holding).

As with all cricket books, much of their charm comes in the snapshot in time they provide, and florid language aside, "The Hapless Hookers" give us a moment in time just as the germination of the most feared bowling line up in history was at its nascent beginnings. ( )