Wikipedia:Peer review/Douglas Jardine/archive1

This peer review discussion has been closed.
.

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because it is currently at GA and I would like to take it to FAC eventually. I'm particularly interested in its readability and how easy it is to understand for the non-cricketer.

Thanks, Sarastro1 (talk) 21:06, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Finetooth comments: I enjoyed reading this even though I have never played cricket, have never seen a cricket match, and do not know the rules. The article seems comprehensive, and I find Jardine's story fascinating. I can't pretend to understand all of the nuances of the plays, techniques, and scoring of the games described, but I was able to follow the action and the logic without getting lost. Most of the jargon is linked, and by clicking through and reading a few sidebar articles, I learned much more about cricket than I ever knew before. I think I would like going to a game with someone who understands it and could explain what is going on as we watch. I believe I understand the Bodyline technique; in baseball, what you might call "hostile" pitchers (bowlers) throw "inside" or "brush-back" pitches to intimidate batters. Sometimes they hit the batters, either accidentally or intentionally, which is quite painful and sometimes seriously damaging. Some of this behavior is more-or-less legal but certainly not nice. Anyway, I think highly of this article. Here are a few suggestions for further improvement.

Lead

• "in which his team employed Bodyline tactics against the opposing Australian batsmen, with Don Bradman being the particular target" - "With" plus "being" is awkward. Suggestion: "in which his team employed Bodyline tactics against the opposing Australian batsmen, Don Bradman in particular".
• "He is widely regarded by commentators and writers as being the person responsible for the English strategy on that tour." - Tighten by deleting "being"?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Early life

• "When he was nine, Douglas was sent to stay with his mother's sister in St Andrews." - You might mention the country here as well since foreigners may think you are still talking about India.
• "Jardine quoted a book of Fry's to support his viewpoint" - "of Fry's" is suspect because "Fry's" is already possessive without "of". I might say, "Jardine quoted Fry" or "Jardine quoted a book by Fry" to avoid this awkwardness.
• "representing the school at football as a goalkeeper and rackets, and playing Winchester College football." - This at first appears to be repetitive (football, football) but perhaps isn't. Would it be helpful to outsiders to add a note explaining that football and Winchester College football are two different things and perhaps, briefly, how they differ?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Oxford University

• "making such progress that he went on to represent the University with great success" - Lowercase "university"?

Not in this sense where it is a team, I don't think. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

• "the situation was confused by the batsmen's scores not being displayed on the ground" - Up to here, I though I was doing pretty well in understanding even though I know almost nothing about cricket. This particular phrase stopped me because I don't know if "ground" means literally the earth or if it means the stadium or something else. Where on the ground would the scores normally be displayed?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

County cricketer

• "His assurance and judgement against all bowling... ". - Spelling. "Judgment"?

Isn't judgement also an acceptable spelling? If not, I will change. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you are right. Finetooth (talk) 16:43, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

• "in a very wet summer which would have led to difficult wickets to bat on" - Straight past tense; i.e., "which led to" rather than "which would have led to"?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Appointment as captain

• "Alan Gibson claimed that Jardine was chosen because none of the other possible candidates were suitable" - "None" is singular; thus, "none of the other possible candidates was suitable" is correct.

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Planning for the 1932–33 tour

• "and it was commented on in Australia, by Bradman amongst others but also in the press" - "Among" is preferred to "amongst".

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Batting

• "R. C. Robertson-Glasgow believed that Jardine had modelled himself of C.B. Fry." - "on C.B. Fry" rather than "of C.B. Fry"?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Retirement

• "This continued support for Jardine in the face of growing unhappiness with Bodyline bowling also had a qualification, with the President and Secretary of the M.C.C. meeting Jardine prior to his appointment." - "With" plus "meeting" is awkward. Also, I'm not sure what is meant by "qualification" in this context. Could this be made more clear?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Career after cricket

• "The family also tried unsuccessfully engaged in market gardening." - "tried unsuccessfully to engage in market gardening"?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Final years

• "He died there on 18 June 1958 and his ashes were scattered over the top of Craigs Cross mountain in Perthshire." - Here, too, it might be helpful to specify the country since "there" refers to Switzerland.

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Legacy

• "Following on from the Bodyline tour... ". - Tighten to "After the Bodyline tour... "?

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

• "In 2002, Nasser Hussain was compared to Jardine in a way which was intended to be positive." - The sense of this is unclear to someone who knows nothing about Hussain. Could you add something to make clear how they were being compared? Is Hussain more ferocious? Less kind to Australians? A wearer of more outrageous hats?

Done. I wish it were the hats! --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Notes

• "while two years (e.g. 1933-34) dashed represents any other country's cricket season" - Rather than saying "dashed", I would just change the hyphen to a dash in the date range.

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

• Your note makes a distinction between England and "any other" country. But when I click through to cricket season, the article there says, "When designating cricket seasons, the convention is to use a single year for a northern hemisphere summer season, and a dashed pair of years to indicate a southern hemisphere summer." Those two distinctions are not the same. Neither distinction is sourced. Your note should be precise and needs a reliable source.

Tightened, but struggling to find a reference for it, as it's something so widely known in cricket circles! I'll keep looking. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:27, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Bibliography

• For entries without ISBNs, you might add the OCLC numbers, which can be found via WorldCat. For example, the 1949 edition of Express Deliveries is OCLC 15178870.

I didn't know about this! I haven't done it yet, but it will come in useful for quite a few things that I've done, so I want to look up quite a few things at the same time. I will address it shortly. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:37, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Other

• The dab tool at the top of this review page finds three links that go to disambiguation pages instead of their intended targets.

Two done, the third one is already done, so I don't know why it's showing. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:35, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

• The image needs alt text, meant for readers who can't see the images. WP:ALT has details.

Done. --Sarastro1 (talk) 14:35, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

I hope these suggestions prove helpful. If so, please consider reviewing another article, especially one from the PR backlog at WP:PR. That is where I found this one. Finetooth (talk) 17:16, 1 May 2010 (UTC)