This is not a book about cricket. It is the story of a man who just happened to play cricket at the highest level.

Through Fire is at times a brutally honest and always fascinating work of introspection and critique that provides readers with unrestricted insight into the mind and heart of one of South Africa’s most interesting and charismatic national captains. There is the public persona of the tattooed, fashionable, mentally tough, immensely popular and yet at times, misunderstood Du Plessis. And then there is the authentic Faf.

Du Plessis reflects on his growth from being a youth with a questionable moral compass outside of cricket, to becoming a leader known for his integrity, values, honesty, and empathy for his teammates and country. He reflects on how influential leaders such as Gary Kirsten, Stephen Fleming, Mohammed Moosajee, Russell Domingo, Ottis Gibson, and MS Dhoni moulded him as a man who leads with grit, purpose, and a love of people. But he also explores destructive relationships, providing his perspective, in devastating detail, on his final years of international cricket. Neither the changing room nor the boardroom is ever off limits.

Through Fire is a no-holds-barred autobiography offering exceptional insight into the core being of an elite sports personality.

From the start of his glittering career in 1992, to his official retirement from all formats of the game in 2013, Shane Warne has long desired to tell his incredible story without compromise. No Spin is that very story. It will offer a compelling intimate voice, true insight and a pitch-side seat to one of cricket’s finest eras, making this one of the ultimate must-have sports autobiographies.

Shane is not only one of the greatest living cricket legends: he is as close as the game has had since Botham to a maverick genius on the field and a true rebel spirit off it, who always gives audiences what they want. Despite being the talismanic thorn in England’s side for nearly two decades of regular Ashes defeats, he was also much loved in the UK where he played cricket for Hampshire. He’s also a much-admired figure in India and South Africa.

Alongside his mesmerising genius as a bowler, Shane has often been a controversial figure, and in this book he's talk with brutal honesty about some of the most challenging times in his life as a player. Honest, thoughtful, fearless and loved by millions, Shane is always his own man and this book is a testament to his brilliant career.

We all know South Africa has problems; we read about them in the newspapers, we see them on the streets and many people experience them in their daily lives. Fortunately, many of these problems can be solved using innovation and science. Innovation takes a look at inventions - developed in South Africa by South Africans - to address issues in the areas of healthcare, energy, environment and industry. Some of these inventions, such as a tea bag created to filter water for communities in rural areas, can save lives; others, such as a unique way to beneficiate titanium, could spell a new era of industry in the country.

The book is broken down into sections on environment, health, energy, industry and education, and in each of those parts are examples of South African innovations, from a satellite system to map fires to the concept of sterilising mosquitoes to stop the spread of malaria.

These have been developed by numerous organisations and institutions and showcase South Africa's excellence.

Nurtured in the lap of comfort, educated at Eton and Cambridge, the hero of the British sport-loving public, C. T. Studd, whose Cambridge career has been described as "one long blaze of cricketing glory", created a stir in the secular world of his youth by renouncing wealth and position to follow Christ. He was captain of the Eton XI in 1879, and of Cambridge University in 1883, being accorded in the latter year (vide The Cricketing Annual) "the premier position as an all-round cricketer for the second year in succession". The illness of a brother brought him face to face with realities and the transitoriness of worldly riches and fame. He obeyed the divine command, "Go thy way, sell what thou hast and give to the poor ...take up thy cross and follow me", throwing himself into the work which had called him with the same thoroughness and earnestness with which he had learned to "play a straight bat". Henceforward his life was dedicated to the service of God and his fellow men, and the story of his labours and adventures makes an epic of faith and courage against great odds that will be an inspiration to all who rejoice in a tale of high endeavour.

This history of Grimsby Cricket Club and Cleethorpes Cricket Club began as a book on cricket in Lincolnshire, but both clubs sent a great deal of information about their history and I decided to combine their history in one book. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The most burning issue in South African cricketing remains hot: why have the highly talented Proteas never won the Cricket World Cup in 33 years of trying?! The answer lies in a blend of frustrating factors that Cowley calls ‘tragicomic’, and he accordingly tackles it with a mixture of serious analysis and light-heartedness, reaching a positive conclusion.

The book, divided into 53 ‘Bites’, gets its teeth into many other cricket topics, as serious as the Greatest ODI Ever Played (South Africa has two claims), or as light as some memorable instances of streaking at major matches.

Howzit! Howzat! reflects Cowley’s ever-present humour as well as the South African perspective he brings to his global view and understanding of the game.

Introduced by Michael Atherton, the former England cricket captain, this book brings together James Lawton's best writing on cricket providing a powerful commentary on the world of cricket over the last decade.

Cricket is a very old game in Scotland - far older than football, a sport which sometimes exercises a baleful, obsessive and deleterious effect on the national psyche. Cricket goes back at least as far as the Jacobite rebellions and their sometimes vicious aftermaths. It is often felt that Scottish cricket underplays itself. It has been portrayed as in some ways an English sport, a "softies" sport, and a sport that has a very limited interest among the general population of Scotland. This is emphatically not true, and this book is in part an attempt to prove that this is a misconception. Sixty-one games (it was going to be just 60, but one turned up at the last minute!) have been chosen from the past 250 years to show that cricket does indeed influence a substantial part of the nation. The matches have been selected at all levels, from Scotland against visiting Australian teams all the way down to a Fife school fixture. These naturally reflect the life, experience and geographical whereabouts of the author. The games are quirky sometimes, (and quirkily chosen) with an emphasis on important events in the broader history of this country, notably the imminence of wars and resumptions at the end of these conflicts. But the important thing is that every single cricket contest does mean an awful lot to some people.

Cricket is a summer game, intended to be played on green fields under blue skies and warm sun. But, for the first time, a book explores the mesmerising beauty of cricket grounds in winter, carpeted with snow, through remarkable colour photographs depicting grounds from Lord's to the smallest village pitch in Lancashire, and internationally from New Zealand to the Indian Himalayas. For this aspect alone, Snow Stopped Play will be seized upon as the perfect gift for the cricket fan even by those utterly uninterested in the sport. But Snow Stopped Play is also a fascinatingly eccentric and charming disquisition, in the best tradition of cricket classics like Carr's Dictionary of Extra-Ordinary Cricketers, on the game of cricket itself, through its hitherto unexamined relationship with snow. Did John Arlott really find a snowflake on his sleeve at Lord's in June? Why did a Derbyshire batsman have to take his false teeth out after a snowfall at Buxton in 1975? And has the Sussex fast bowler and poet John Snow ever written a poem about snow?

Surprisingly, perhaps, cricket is a game rich in international history, sporting characters and, on occasions, controversy. Over his long career as a cricket commentator and journalist Ralph Dellor has met some of the greatest exponents of the "summer" game. In the 1990s he conducted a series of face-to-face taped interviews with famous cricketers past and present. Along with Stephen Lamb, his fellow sports journalist and business partner, he has edited and annotated the interviews so they are put into context of time and place. Each chapter is a classic piece of cricketing history and insight into the legends and lore of the game. Featuring such names as Denis Compton, Brian Statham and Cyril Washbrook.

Completely revised and updated featuring two brand new chapters, in preparation for the 2019 Ashes series From the William Hill Award-Winning Author of A Lot of Hard Yakka comes Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in 12 Matches by Simon Hughes. A fast-paced, distinctive history of the iconic, 137-year-old cricketing rivalry between England and Australia published in the year of back-to-back Ashes contests. No other sport has a fixture like the Ashes. From the early 1880s the rivalry between these two great sporting nations has captured the public imagination and made sporting legends of its stars. Commentator, analyst and award-winning cricket historian Simon Hughes tells the story of the 12 seminal series that have become the stuff of sporting folklore. Cricket's Greatest Rivalry places you right at the heart of the action of each pivotal match, explaining the social context of the time, the atmosphere of the crowd and the background and temperaments of the players that battled in both baggy green and blue caps. The book also includes complete statistics and records of all the Ashes fixtures and results and much more!

Originally published in 1900. A study of this most English of games. With contributions by other well known authors. Contents Include: How To Prepare A Wicket and How to Look After A Ground by T.A. Hearne - Batting by Albert Ward - Slow Bowling by F.G.Bull - Cricketing of Today by M.A.Noble - Fielding by P.F.Warner - Fast Bowling by T.C.Collings - Hints to Young Cricketers by O.R.Borradaile - Recreation and "Cricket" by Lord Harris - Management of a Club by C.W.Alcock - The Rules of Cricket - What Cricket Costs. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.