M.C.C. in South Africa 1964-5 by Charles Fortune
M.C.C. in South Africa 1964-5 (First UK Edition of the 1964-65 MCC Tour of South Africa)
A Cricket Commentator's Account of the MCC Tour of South Africa, 1964-65
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: M.C.C. in South Africa 1964-5
- Author: Charles Fortune
- Publisher: Robert Hale Limited, London
- Publication Date: 1965
- ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
- Edition Details: First published in Great Britain, 1965.
- Binding: Publisher's dark green cloth boards with an orange photographic dust jacket.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo) hardcover, illustrated.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
- The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior / Boards: The dark green cloth boards are clean, with a sound spine and square corners. The top edge and fore-edge of the text block are toned with age.
- Interior: The text pages are clean and evenly toned cream, with no markings beyond a faint small smudge on page 15. The binding is tight. No ex-library marks.
- The Dust Jacket: Present. The orange jacket carries a black-and-white cricket photograph on the front and has a bright orange spine with clear lettering. It shows wear: chipping and small losses at the top of the spine and the top of the back panel, creasing and rubbing, nicks along the edges and spine ends, some tears at the lower spine, and edge wear to the front fore-edge. It is protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in London by Robert Hale in 1965, M.C.C. in South Africa 1964-5 is an account of the MCC cricket team's tour of South Africa in the 1964-65 season. It offers match reports alongside observations on the players and the course of the tour, including the Rhodesia leg and the Test at the Wanderers.
The book comes from the pen of Charles Fortune, long known to South African listeners as a radio cricket commentator. His first-hand familiarity with the game and its personalities gives the narrative the immediacy of a man who covered the matches as they happened.
As a record of a Test series played in South Africa in the 1960s, it is a useful volume for collectors of cricket literature and of South African sporting history.
Author Profile: Charles Fortune
Charles Fortune was born in 1904 in Lacock, Wiltshire, and emigrated to South Africa in 1935 to teach science. He became a South African broadcaster and cricket commentator, described by a South African cricket historian as the voice of cricket for generations of local fans.
He later served for twelve years as secretary of the South African Cricket Association. His other books include Cricket Overthrown (1960), The MCC Tour of South Africa 1956-1957 and Giants of South African Cricket (1971).
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