BOOK REVIEWS
Autobiography
Rhino
Ryan Harris
We Rate:
BOOK SYNOPSIS
As a raw-boned fast bowler just out of his teens, Ryan Harris was plucked from suburban grade cricket in 2000 and contracted to play for South Australia's Redbacks. But by 2007, he was the last Redbacks player to be offered a contract. He realised that it was now or never if he wanted his cricket career to flourish.
A bumper summer, followed by a switch to Queensland saw him catapulted into the Australian ODI team in 2009 and then in 2010 he made his Test debut and received his prize baggy green cap. Along the way he won an IPL title with the Deccan Chargers.
With injury a constant if unwanted companion, it took almost four years for Ryan to make 16 Test appearances, although they netted him an impressive 71 test wickets at an average of just over 22. But then followed a remarkable 12 months where the Tin Man became the Iron Man. In all he played 12 out of 13 tests, a remarkable effort considering the curse of Injuries that had previously restricted him.
He was the man of the series despite England retaining the Ashes at home in Mid 2013, then a key member of the triumphant Australian team that reclaimed the venerable Urn at the end of that year in a crushing clean sweep.
Success followed him in South Africa too, and after bowling Australia to a crucial series win against the Proteas in 2014, he was hailed as a hero by cricket lovers worldwide.
His last Test heroics came at a price though, with the lionhearted Harris undergoing major knee surgery that once again put his career in jeopardy, as he gritted his teeth and began another long fight back.
Now if only his old enemy, his body, will let him continue winning.
OUR REVIEW
The story of Ryan Harris is very much one of an underdog reaching his potential to reach the top of his chosen sport, having made the sacrifices needed to get to the level, albeit very briefly, due to the nature of how tough bowling can be on the body and how the struggle to keep himself fit regularly and at peak condition was a task in itself.
This isn't the longest book you can pick up and that reflects his career for Australia which was short but very much sweet, showing how hard work and sacrifice can get you to the levels required. It also reflects cricket and how teams can go in peaks and troughs, where Harris very much led the line in one of Australia's trough periods and that often, when fit, he was a lone soldier, on the back of one of the greatest bowling line-ups seen in the 2000s and again what we see today for Australia.
But make no mistake, Harris was a very very good bowler, one that would have had no problem fitting in either the preceding era or the modern era, if only he could have stayed fit. Bowling is hard work and when you put that much strain on your body, some of them just can't cope. That is Harris's story, how he battled throughout his career to get to where he wanted to be and then trying to stay there.
This is not a book that will stick out to many but is still well worth a read. Its one of the shorter autobiographies and that is very much a positive in being able to fit it into your list to try out. Give it a go, we're sure you'll enjoy it!
