Passport to Nowhere

Marsh, who played at the end of the 19th Century into 1905, was rated by some as the world’s best bowler and led the national bowling averages in his first season with NSW. But at key points in his career -- on the eve of selection as a state representative and later as a strong contender for national selection -- he was controversially "no-balled" by two umpires for alleged throwing or "chucking".

The decisions restricted his first-class appearances for NSW to only six and prevented his becoming the Australian team’s first Aboriginal cricketer despite widespread public outcries.

According to the book the details of these incidents also call for some reassessments of some of Australia’s revered cricket figures including Australian test player and selector, Monty Noble, and umpire Bob Crockett.

Marsh fell into alcoholism and was later bashed to death, aged 42, at an Orange hotel. The two men charged with his manslaughter walked free.

As recently highlighted in a national magazine, Gilbert’s career, also suffered from being "called" for chucking at crucial times; firstly by the media and then umpire Andrew Barlow. Despite his being "no-balled" Gilbert managed nearly two dozen first class appearances for Queensland but the ruling denied him his best chance of playing for Australia, in a Test against South Africa.

The book unequivocally links these decisions to racial prejudice and discrimination.

But Bernard also points out that the No-Ball Law allows a bowler to be "called" if he only appears to be throwing which is "contradictory to the traditions of British justice and the presumption of innocence". He argues the law was flawed in 1900 and "remains so nearly a century later in the wake of the ‘calling’ of Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan by umpires…which effectively damned the bowler as a cheat".

No doubt an updated version of the book would make reference to the recent plight of Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar during his Australian tour.

While noting the history of Aboriginal achievement in sport is still in its infancy, Bernard has produced the most comprehensive coverage yet of my people’s involvement in one of Australia’s greatest games. He gives new insights into the development of Aboriginal involvement in cricket and challenges modern-day assumptions that the game had a widespread impact in Aboriginal society.

Bernard also debunks the conventional historical view that cricket was popular among Aborigines and racial discrimination caused its demise. Discrimination was a key factor in the decline of Aboriginal involvement in cricket but its not the full story.

As he says in the book: "The history is more complex that the tale of a handful of throwers or the sad deaths of four first-class players due to drunkeness, disease…and a hotel brawl."

The book shows that the essence of Aboriginal involvement in cricket was discontinuity -- a stop-start affair which often began with Aboriginal accommodation to white ways and ceased because of a disinclination to play. It traces the origins of Aboriginal involvement in cricket as a "civilising influence" at the Poonindie Mission in South Australia in the 1850s up until the early 20th Century tragedies of Marsh and Gilbert.