Graham Thorpe's achievements on the cricket field contrasted wildly with his personal problems, where drink and depression combined to send him spiralling off the rails. This is his brutally honest life story, including his dramatic retirement from Test cricket, and updated to include England's 2005 Ashes win, and his new coaching career. Graham Thorpe was one of the best batsmen in world cricket for more than a decade. Yet the national press hounded him as 'English cricket's most disturbed player' for pulling out of a series of tours and turning his back on the game more than once. With painful candour and often unexpected humour, Thorpe dissects his career in cricket and the inner recesses of his private life: the impact of his bitter divorce; the suicidal depression that afflicted him in his darkest hours; the reasons why he needed to 'save himself' by withdrawing from past England tours; the elation of his magnificent century on his comeback Test at the Oval in 2003; and his fresh outlook in life with a new partner after confronting his own failings and past troubles. Twelve years on from his Test debut against Australia, Thorpe took the decision to retire from international cricket after the disappointment of his controversial non-selection for the Ashes 2005 tour. With updated material on his coaching spell in Australia - where he gained valuable insight into cricket's No 1 nation - his new-found media role and his still-relevant views on where English cricket is heading post-Ashes 2005, Thorpe will continue to be an important figure in the game for years to come.

This fascinating book takes a very different look at Australia's most popular sporting hero, Sir Donald Bradman. Unlike the mostly reverent literature on 'The Don', this 2003 book explains how his iconic status was created and sustained, and what his popularity and heroism say about the meaning of Australian nationhood. Brett Hutchins' unique analysis reveals the mythical character of so many representations of The Don, and connects them to broader social phenomena and the cultural contexts in which they were created. Hutchins considers the many ways in which Bradman has been represented - as a symbol of Australian masculinity, as the quintessential Australian boy from the bush, as the 'battler', and as the hero at a distance from the political. Hutchins is able to show that many of the truisms we take for granted about Bradman and his role in Australian culture are open to challenge.

In the early 80s, 20 black West Indian cricketers were paid more than $100,000 each to take part in rebel tours of apartheid South Africa. Some, such as Lawrence Rowe and Alvin Kallicharran, were household names in the Caribbean and around the world, while others were fringe players seeking a short cut out of poverty. All would be condemned by the international cricketing fraternity. Accused of pocketing 'blood money' in order to prop up a regime that systematically discriminated against people of their own colour, they were banned for life from playing the sport they loved. In many cases, they were shunned by their fellow countrymen. A few turned to drugs and gangs, some turned to God - and others found themselves begging on the streets and dealing with mental illness. Forgotten and neglected for close to four decades, The Unforgiven tells their often-tragic stories through face-to-face interviews that explore the human cost of an onerous decision made early in these young men's lives.

Alex Blackwell lived and breathed our national sport of cricket for thirty years. Starting as a kid, she spent her childhood and teen years on the field with her identical twin, Kate, who was equally devoted to the bat and ball. While both sisters went on to represent Australia, Alex built a 15-year career in the green and gold, eventually rising to the captaincy, notching up an eye-watering list of sporting achievements and etching her name into cricket's history. But life off the field brought challenges of its own. From her professional debut, Alex was unafraid to call out hypocrisy and go in to battle against the traditional hierarchies of the game. Speaking out and becoming a passionate advocate for women and LGBTQI people in sport won her many fans and much respect, but it didn't come without a price. Fair Game is the unmissable account of life and leadership inside Australia's most loved sporting team, told by one of its most capped players of all time. This is the story of the sacrifices and victories, the extreme highs and devastating lows, that come with playing sport at the highest level, and of what it takes to be truly courageous on and off the field.

This fascinating book takes a very different look at Australia's most popular sporting hero, Sir Donald Bradman. Unlike the mostly reverent literature on 'The Don', this 2003 book explains how his iconic status was created and sustained, and what his popularity and heroism say about the meaning of Australian nationhood. Brett Hutchins' unique analysis reveals the mythical character of so many representations of The Don, and connects them to broader social phenomena and the cultural contexts in which they were created. Hutchins considers the many ways in which Bradman has been represented - as a symbol of Australian masculinity, as the quintessential Australian boy from the bush, as the 'battler', and as the hero at a distance from the political. Hutchins is able to show that many of the truisms we take for granted about Bradman and his role in Australian culture are open to challenge.

The 1970s in the East Midlands was a decade of mediocrity. As a young girl growing up there, Michele Savidge seemed destined for a prosaic life. But everything changed when as a 12-year-old she saw Viv Richards bat. At that moment, she fell in love with Richards and with West Indies cricket. She set her sights on becoming a cricket journalist and realised that dream in spite of the obstacles in her way. Between Overs is an elegiac, often comedic, romp through the trials Michele faced. It includes outrageous 'Me Too' incidents, in-depth appraisals of her hero Viv Richards and a close encounter with actor Peter O'Toole. Births, life, bereavement and depression took her away from the sport she loved. But the 2019 Cricket World Cup, a purple and green polyester tracksuit and the intense climax of the final at Lord's saw the old flame rekindled and taught Michele how to love life - and cricket - again.

The day the county cricket fixtures are revealed each winter, hoteliers in Scarborough get ready for their phones to melt. The migration of cricket fans each August to the North Yorkshire coast has yet to feature in a nature documentary but county cricket by the seaside has been a Yorkshire institution since 1876. Be transported to one of Yorkshire's finest sporting amphitheatres. Enjoy tales from the game and town that will surprise and delight, like the time the PA system picked up a funeral during play or when Derek Randall gave Sarfraz Nawaz a wire rubbish bin to aid his ability to field. There are interviews with fans, players and coaches past and present and those who have been coming to Scarborough for up to 50 years. Read Geoffrey Boycott's last innings for Yorkshire in his own words, Ken Rutherford's 317 in a day recalled by the man himself and Jason Gillespie on his favourite Festival memories. John Fuller travels to the coastal town to find the characters and stories, watch Yorkshire in action and tap into Scarborough's enduring appeal.

*A MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING SPORTS WRITER* 'Hamilton's book is a marvel . . . I'm not sure he could write a dull sentence if he tried' Spectator One of Duncan Hamilton's favourite writers on cricket, Edmund Blunden, wrote how he felt going to watch a game: 'You arrive early, earlier even than you meant . . . and you feel a little guilty at the thought of the day you propose to give up to sheer luxury'. Following Neville Cardus's assertion that 'there can be no summer in this land without cricket', Hamilton plotted the games he would see in 2019 and write down reflectively on some of the cricket that blessed his own sight. It would be captured in the context of the coming season in case subsequent summers and the imminent arrival of The Hundred made that impossible. He would write in the belief that after this season the game might never be quite the same again. He visits Welbeck Colliery Cricket Club to see Nottinghamshire play Hampshire at the tiny ground of Sookholme, gifted to the club by a local philanthropist who takes money on the gate; his village team at Menston in Yorkshire; the county ground at Hove; watches Ben Stokes's heroics at Headingley, marvels at Jofra Archer's gift of speed in a Second XI fixture for Sussex against Gloucestershire in front of 74 people and three well-behaved dogs; and realises when he reaches the last afternoon of the final county match of the season at Taunton, 'How blessed I am to have been born here. How I never want to live anywhere else. How much I love cricket.' One Long and Beautiful Summer forms a companion volume to Hamilton's 2009 classic, A Last English Summer. It is sports writing at its most accomplished and evocative, confirming his reputation as the finest contemporary chronicler of the game.

Every cricket lover recalls the deeds of one Ian Botham during England's against-all-odds Ashes victory against Australia in 1981. Now, twenty years on from that memorable event, what could be more appropriate than to look back and remember when English cricket was on top of the world and reflect on the personalities past and present who have made the game so enjoyable to so many people.

'Botham's Century' is a unique collection of 100 cricketing characters taken from his own personal scrapbook. Players, some household names and others not so well known; umpires and coaches; mentors; television commentators; writers; groundsmen; popstars and philanthropists – in fact all those who in Botham's opinion have been an influence for good in the game during his era.

Featured among the cast of characters are the likes of the legendary Don Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Sunil Gavaskar; Botham's soulmate and sparring partner Viv Richards; rival fast bowlers Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomas; and more recent stars of the game in Brian Lara, Shane Warne and the irresistible Darren Gough.

Not forgetting the more eccentric personalities encountered along the way, such as Dickie Bird, Jack Russell and Phil Tufnell; the late John Arlott and Brian Johnston from the commentators box; and Elton John, Mick Jagger and other celebrities from the world of pop and showbiz.

Entertaining, controversial, and written in typical swashbuckling style, these portraits from Botham's Hall of Fame are sure to incite a plethora of opinions from both those inside and outside the game. 'Bothams Century' will be a treasured item for cricket fan's and nostalgia lovers, as well as those just seeking a jolly good read.

Bringing together leading international writers on cricket and society, this important new book places cricket in the postcolonial life of the major Test-playing countries. Exploring the culture, politics, governance and economics of cricket in the twenty-first century, this book dispels the age-old idea of a gentle game played on England's village greens.

This is an original political and historical study of the game's development in a range of countries and covers:

* cricket in the new Commonwealth: Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Caribbean and India
* the cricket cultures of Australia, New Zealand and post-apartheid South Africa
* cricket in England since the 1950s.

This new book is ideal for students of sport, politics, history and postcolonialism as it provides stimulating and comprehensive discussions of the major issues including race, migration, gobalization, neoliberal economics, the media, religion and sectarianism.

As a widely respected cricket historian, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, and also a writer with a great sense of fun, Henry Blofeld is the ideal man to select the great characters of cricket who have livened up the sport. We learn of the exploits of the legendary Ian Botham, a man who made up his own rules and has been at the centre of controversy on countless occasions; Garry Sobers, an immensely popular all-round great; and Dennis Lillee, the temperamental fast bowler who once held up a game with a tantrum when ordered to change his aluminium bat. Henry Blofeld regales us with marvellous - sometimes mischievous - stories to add to the "Boy's Own" nature of the book, and highlights those players who would make cricket lovers cancel their appointments to see them, even on a cold April day.

Golden-haired and handsome, brothers Shane and Brett Lee are the latest in a long line of famous Australian cricket siblings. Brett's older brother Shane is also an impressive cricketer and an all-rounder of enormous talent. This is the incredible and inspiring story of these two cricketing firebrands and their stratospheric rise from the state game to their donning of the baggy green. From their backyard cricket days in Wollongong to the cauldron of international matches, the Lees have dealt with not only media scrutiny and injury worries, but also some of the world's finest batsmen, to hold their own amongst the game's elite. This is their story.

For most of his professional life Michael Parkinson has been a highly regarded sports journalist. This consistently entertaining collection of his best articles reminds us that his first love is cricket and the people who excel at it. His ambition to play for England was thwarted, but not before he opened the batting with a young Dickie Bird at Barnsley. Along with hilarious memories of his cricket mad father and a lost youth emulating his heroes in street games, Michael Parkinson has written compelling descriptions of great players he has known and the moments or matches during which they became famous. Unsurprisingly, there is an edge to what the author has to say about cricket administrators and the way the game is run; the book is a sheer joy to read and written with the author's easy assurance.

Alastair Cook forced his way into the record books in 2006, becoming one of the few England players to score a hundred on debut. By going on to become the only Englishman to hit seven Test centuries before his twenty-third birthday, Alastair found himself in the company of the greatest players in cricketing history. STARTING OUT is Alastair's personal account of this speedy climb to stardom. Equally gifted at music, he opted for cricket as a schoolboy and the young left-hander broke record after record as he progressed to become the first-choice opener for Essex. Now an integral part of the England team with over forty caps, Alastair is perfectly placed to describe the highs and lows of life within the England cricket camp during one of the most exciting and turbulent periods of their history, both on and off the field. Updated to include the full story of the 2009 Ashes series, STARTING OUT amounts to a fascinating insight into life as one of the rising stars of English cricket.

Malcolm Nash achieved sporting immortality as the bowler hit for a world-record six sixes by the legendary batsman Garry Sobers at Swansea in 1968 but, as Malcolm himself notes, although this single over made his name well-known, it should not define his long and distinguished cricketing career. A highly regarded bowler, Malcolm played over 600 matches for Glamorgan between 1966 and 1983, taking over 1,300 wickets, had an England trial and was unlucky not to receive international recognition. In Not Only, But Also, his sporting memoir published fifty years after the historic day in Swansea, Malcolm not only looks back at that over at St Helen's but also explores and celebrates his wider achievements with ball and bat, painting an intriguing and nostalgic picture of county cricket, and the life of a county cricketer, in the 1960s and 1970s. Described by his friend John Arlott as `a highly skilful manipulator of medium-pace seam bowling', Malcolm's story is of a cricketing life full of excitement and incident. It is a career remembered not only for that single over bowled to the best cricketer in the world, but also by much, much more.

AB de Villiers is een van Suid-Afrika se grootste sporthelde. Hy is sedert 2011 kaptein van die Suid-Afrikaanse eendagspan asook ’n lid van die nasionale span sedert hy op 20 Desember 2004, op 20-jarige ouderdom, sy buiging vir die Proteas gemaak het. AB het reg deur sy lewe op die sportveld uitgeblink én word vandag as een van die beste kolwers ter wêreld, in alle aspekte van die spel beskou.

AB: Die Outobiografie, sal insig bied oor die man agter die kolf en onder die kopskerm, asook oor deurslaggewende oomblikke tydens sy loopbaan en sy verhoudingsbande met verskillende mentors. Die leser sal teruggeneem word na die agterplaas van AB se ouerhuis waar hy as kind die eerste keer saam met sy broers leer krieket speel het, en sal voorgestel word aan al die kleurvolle karakters en sportlui wat paaie met AB gekruis het.

AB se belangstelling in musiek en in die sakewêreld word ook onder die loep geneem asook hoe hy hierdie belangstellings van hom saam met sy internasionale krieketloopbaan uitleef.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket, Shane Warne was a giant of his time. A sporting hero and national icon, young cricketers today are inspired by his leg spin legacy. Perhaps the most charismatic personality of any sport, Shane Warne's triumphs restored craft and subtlety to the foreground of the game. Taking the highest number of Test wickets when he retired - 708 at 25.14 apiece, he was chosen by Wisden as one of the five outstanding players of the 20th century. The rebel who used his injury in his early years to build strength in his wrists and upper body, his unwavering optimism and unassailable competitive spirit became a defining feature of the leading man of cricket. Packed with quotes and insights The Little Book of Shane Warne explores the man who, by unanimous consent, pitched the ball of the century, and earned his place in the pantheon of exceptional players. 'He was the best of them all and you can't say any more than that.' Michael Parkinson 'People put down their beer every time Shane Warne came on to bowl.' Ian Chappell

Alongside the SAS, Harry's other lifetime love is cricket. An improvised game of cricket was often the circuit-breaker Harry and his team needed after the tension of operations. He began a tradition of organising matches wherever he was sent, whether it was in the mountains of East Timor with a fugitive rebel leader, or on the dusty streets of Baghdad, or in exposed Forward Operating Bases in the hills of Afghanistan. Soldiers, locals and even visiting politicians played in these spontaneous yet often bridge-building games. As part of the tradition, Harry also started to take a cricket bat with him on operational tours, eleven of them in total. They'd often go outside the wire with him and end up signed by those he met or fought alongside. These eleven bats form the basis for Harry's extraordinary memoir. It's a book about combat, and what it takes to serve in one of the world's most elite formations. It's a book about the toll that war takes on soldiers and their loved ones. And it's a book about the healing power of cricket, and how a game can break down borders in even the most desperate of circumstances.

In this strikingly original work, cultural critic Jonathan Dollimore once again demonstrates his remarkable ability to take on the complex and reveal its relevance with eloquence and grace.
Death, Desire and Loss in Western Culture is a rich testament to our eternal preoccupation with the tangled web of death and desire.
An immensely important book, this is a challenge to the way we understand desire, sexuality, and the very notion of identity.

Cricket is an Indian game accidentally invented by the English, it has famously been said. But India was represented by a cricket team long before it became a nation. Conceived by an unlikely coalition of imperial and local elites, it took twelve years and four failed attempts before the first Indian cricket team made its debut on the playing fields of imperial Britain. Drawing on an unparalleled range of original archival sources, Cricket Country is the story of this first 'All India' national cricket tour of Great Britain and Ireland. It is also simultaneously the extraordinary tale of how the idea of India took shape on the cricket pitch long before the country gained its political independence. Replete with a highly improbable cast of characters, the tour took place against the backdrop of anti-colonial protest and revolutionary terrorism in the high noon of Edwardian imperialism, with an Indian team that included the young, newly enthroned ruler of the most powerful Sikh state in India as its captain and, remarkably for the day, two Dalit cricketers as well. Over the course of their historic tour in the blazing Coronation summer of 1911, these Indian cricketers participated in a collective enterprise that epitomizes the way in which sport - and above all cricket - helped fashion the imagined communities of both nation and empire.

Cricket Drona takes us through the life of cricketing genius Vasoo Paranjape, who left a defining impact on the game, shaping the careers of some of Indian cricket's greatest figures, from Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar, from Rahul Dravid to Rohit Sharma. This book is a first-hand chronicle of stories, life lessons and game-changing experiences, written in the words of those who were lucky enough to have crossed paths with Paranjape at just the right time in their careers. For generations of cricketers across India, and even for some in other parts of the world, Paranjape has been an inspiration, a mentor, friend and guide. Peel back the layers and get to the core of a life that nurtured and nourished generations of India's best cricketing talent.

*Standard hardback edition* Wisden 2020 provides unparalleled coverage of an extraordinary year of cricket. The 157th edition of Wisden celebrates the World Cup triumph of England's men on a memorable day at Lord's. The cover captures the moment of victory - and arguably the most important split second in the history of English cricket - as Jos Buttler runs out Martin Guptill from the last ball of the super over to confirm England as champions. Wisden 2020 reports not just on a remarkable World Cup, reliving the climax through the eyes of England's players, but on a topsy-turvy Ashes, the Stokes Headingley miracle and all. Wisden also names its champion all-format county, and remembers Bob Willis, who died in December. Emma John reveals what it's like to be a woman member of MCC, while Colin Shindler looks back 50 years at a summer of demonstrations and barbed wire. @WisdenAlmanack

'I'm confident they play cricket in heaven. Wouldn't be heaven otherwise, would it?' Patrick Moore This pocket-sized miscellany, packed with fascinating facts, amusing anecdotes and captivating stories and quotes from the world of cricket, is perfect for anyone who knows the incomparable joy of the gentleman's game.

And Bring the Darkness Home is a haunting exploration of how the mental scars of war destroyed an international cricket career, tore a family apart and left destitute a man who seemed to have it all. Tony Dell was the only Test cricketer to fight in the Vietnam War. His journey to the summit of the game, playing for Australia against England in the Ashes, was as unlikely and meteoric as any in cricket history. His descent was painful and harrowing. It was in his mid-60s, living in his mother's garage, that he learned the truth about what had led him on a path of self-destruction. A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder allowed him to piece together the ruins of his life and also to search for answers, for himself and the thousands of other sufferers. The restlessness and urgency that once drove him to the top of the game was turned on authorities who refused to learn the lessons from history. PTSD robbed Tony Dell of memories of his playing career and left a palpable sense of loss. It also gave him a life-changing mission.