Updated and Expanded.
'Captain Australia' covers the careers of Australia's 39 cricket captains, from D W Gregory, who led the nation's team in its first-ever Test match against England in March 1877, to Steve Waugh in 2000. The book examines the role of the country's skippers and how the position has risen in prominence to be the most important appointment in Australian sport. The high-profile nature of the position gives the national cricket XI's leader as much prestige as a prime minister, especially abroad in cricket-playing nations such as England, India, Pakistan and South Africa, where Bradman, Benaud and Waugh are household names. 'Captain Australia' celebrates each Australian cricket captain and uncovers the role each captain has played in shaping Australia's reputation as a great cricketing nation.
'Captain Australia' explores every leader's quirks and individualism, from Warwick Armstrong to Lindsay Hassett, from Bill Lawry to Mark Taylor. Every skipper has had his own style and 'Captain Australia' illuminates these characters. Some, like Vic Richardson and his grandson, Ian Chappell, were inspirational. Others, such as Billy Woodfull and Bobby Simpson, were quiet achievers. Then there were the tacticians/strategists, including Bradman and Steve Waugh, who said the bare minimum and led from the front.
