One liner - a magnificent work, IMO, the finest of Haigh. ( )

These days one only comes across the name Jack Iverson in tables showing cricketers who have taken wickets at ludicrously low averages. But this man, in his short career, attracted a lot of attention and his mystery spin bowling technique, even more.

Gideon Haigh is a very good writer, particularly on cricket, and while "Mystery Spinner" is not his best work, it is a good read about a cricketer I knew precious little about.

We get an exhaustive look at Iverson's upbringing, his almost non-existent junior cricketing career (Haigh questions whether any other Test player has as poor a junior career as Iverson), his war duties and on to his brief Test cricketing career, all the while looking for clues that would explain his later suicide by shotgun. ( )