Feeling is the Thing That Happens in 1000th of a Second': A Season of Cricket Photographer Patrick Eagar

2017 | Art, Photography & Fashion

In 1975 Patrick Eagar took some photographs which were unlike any cricket photographs anyone had seen before. It was a year when two of the most powerful sides toured England to compete for the first ever World Cup. They were the legendary Australian side that featured the lethal fast bowlers Lillee and Thomson as well as the Chappell brothers, Marsh and Walters. The other visitor was the emerging superpower of the West Indies, captained by Clive Lloyd and included the young Andy Roberts and Viv Richards. From this raw material Eagar found something which is almost magical. As the Guardian celebrated at the time, he 'renders cricket a service as no one else in his field has ever done before'. His pictures show that, 'feeling is the thing that happens in 1000th of a second.' So this is a cricket book about photography and what it can do - tell the future and show human beings in ways not available to our eyes. It is part detective story (and reconstruction of one of the great summers of cricket), part biography and part essay on the power of the image, myth and reality.

With 50 black-and-white and 20 colour photographs by Patrick Eager and other great photographers, is it is essential reading for any cricket fan.

Christian Ryan (Author)