da leao： Clarrie Grimmett, Arthur Mailey and Jack Russell were as evocative on canvas as they were skilled on the field

da prosport bet： Ashley Mallett03-Feb-2014Cricket followers have revelled in the artistry of many great players over the years. However, a select band of celebrated cricketers have turned their hand to art of another kind.Clarrie Grimmett was not only a wonderful exponent of legspin bowling, he was also a clever artist. While bowling was Clarrie’s “breath of life” this veritable Bradman of spin could draw admirably with pencil or brush.Long before he came to Australia, Clarrie was an apprentice sign-writer in Wellington. Art seemed a natural progression for him and when he left the sign-writing trade, he for a time ran the Clarrie Grimmett Bag Shop in Adelaide. As women browsed, the little spin wizard surreptitiously sketched their profiles on the back of a brown paper bag, a stack of which he kept within arm’s reach under the bench top. Later, some of these sketches became works on canvas.But Grimmett’s art never became widely known, for he wanted to be taken seriously, not seen as some sort of comic turn like he perceived Arthur Mailey, his arch-rival in spin.After his career ended, Mailey bought a butcher’s shop in Cronulla, a Sydney suburb. On his shopfront window appeared the words: “I used to bowl tripe; then I wrote it; now I sell it!” Mailey was raised in Zetland, a slum suburb in Sydney, where he worked in a variety of labouring jobs before cricket and art, sketching in pen and ink and painting in oils, began to consume him. In 1921, the year of the first of his two England tours with the Australian team, Mailey’s sketches and cartoons so impressed the , John Woodcock.”Wooders”, one of the Redpath family’s dearest friends in England, dutifully makes the short walk from his home, The Old Curacy, to open up the church three times a week, and will be delighted to learn that it has been portrayed in this way, especially by the hand of his good friend.Once a week Redders, who enjoys coaching cricket and is often seen working with players at the Geelong Cricket Club, accompanies ex-Geelong footballer and Brownlow Medal winner Alastair Lord to a hall in the centre of the town of Geelong and the two focus on their painting. Redpath’s days of running an antique dealership are now over. He still dabbles in renovating old pieces of furniture in his work shed, but painting, his hobby for the past eight years, has become a joy.Many ex-players find their niche in writing or broadcasting; some like Ian Redpath paint. Perhaps there is also an art in a cricketer picking the right career pathway in their life after cricket.