Lanterna Rally

Author: Ryan Harris

Publisher: Hardie Grant Books

Published: 2014-11-15

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1743582951

In Rhino, cricketer Ryan Harris and co-authors Stephen Gray and Jason Phelan chart Ryan’s career from the years spent as a fringe player in South Australia to the behind-the-scenes stories from the Australian Test team and what it took to get there. 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 prized baggy green cap. Along the way, he won an IPL title with the Deccan Chargers. With injury a constant 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. 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 lion-hearted Harris undergoing major knee surgery that once again put his career in jeopardy, as he gritted his teeth and began another long fight back. ‘You ask him to bowl ... he’s got no energy left ... his body is killing him ... he will find a way to take a wicket for us. As captain you can’t ask for more.’ Michael Clarke ‘... one of the finest bowlers seen in Australia since at least the turn of the century.’ The Sydney Morning Herald