When Andrew Strauss's team seized the world title in the summer of 2011 they finally recovered what had been lost at the Adelaide Oval in 1959. This tale of England's preceding triumph and loss is recounted through the memoirs of many of the star players when England had last been top of the world. Bent Arms and Dodgy Wickets tells the story of English cricket's slow recovery from the Second World War, of its brief time of triumph and of its undignified fall from grace - a tale of fluctuating fortunes reflected upon by great names including Hutton, Compton and Trueman, Lindwall and Miller, McGlew and Weekes. The title refers to the sporting controversies of the time - suspect bowling actions and poor pitches - as Britain declined as an imperial power, and English cricket was hampered by class snobbery, anachronistic fixations and an uncompetitive domestic game.

WINNER OF THE CRICKET BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD AT THE CROSS BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2017 WINNER OF THE MCC/CRICKET SOCIETY'S BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2017 Mark Nicholas, the face of Channel 5's Cricket on Five and anchor for Channel 9's Test commentary team in Australia, has a unique knowledge and perspective on the world of cricket. As both a former player and now a professional observer and commentator on the game, he knows all the key figures of the sport and has witnessed first-hand some of cricket's greatest moments. His book is a personal account of the game as he's seen and experienced it across the globe. From epic test matches and titans of the game like Lara, Warne and Tendulkar, to his own childhood love for the sport, Mark gives us his informed, personal and fascinating views on cricket - the world's other beautiful game.

Winning takes many forms. For fans of Matthew Syed, this is a great sports book about leadership, judgement and decision-making - rooted in the theory that helped Ed Smith lead England cricket to sustained success. And to help us all win more. 'An absolutely fascinating book' THE GAME, The Times football pod How do you spot the opportunities that others miss? How do you turn a team's performance around? How do you make good decisions amid a tidal wave of information? And how can you improve? As chief selector for the England cricket team, Ed Smith pioneered new methods for building successful teams and watched his decisions tested in real time on the pitch. During his three-year tenure, England averaged 7 wins in every 10 completed matches, better than they have performed before or since. Making Decisions reveals Smith's unique approach to finding success in a fast-changing and increasingly data-reliant world. The best decisions, Smith argues, rely on a combination of differing kinds of intelligence: from algorithms to intuition. This is a truth that the most successful people know: data cannot account for everything, it must be harnessed with human insight. Whatever the power of data, humans aren't finished yet. Sharing for the first time the tools he introduced as England selector, Smith's book captures the immediacy of life at the sharp end, while also exploring frameworks from the top levels of sports, business and the arts. Decision-making is revealed as a creative enterprise, not a reductive system. Making Decisions offers an invaluable guide for those who want a better framework for developing, explaining and implementing new ideas.

The Ashes may be the longest and fiercest sporting soap opera the world has known. The anticipation is always intense, expectations are high and, for England fans, disappointment is almost inevitable, as we usually lose. But it's a drug we can never kick. How have we got into this state? Can we ever break free? Marcus Berkmann knows he can't and has stopped even trying. ASHES TO ASHES is the first emotional history of the contest, shamelessly eschewing balance and objectivity to give the punter's view of every series since 1972. This new edition updates the tale to the victorious 2009 series, while remaining brutally realistic about our chances in 2010 and beyond . . .

Formed in 1875, Somerset County Cricket Club had a long history of winning nothing when Brian Rose took on the captaincy in 1978. Yet in his six years at the helm they won five trophies and came close to winning several more. With only two further successes since then, those gloriously entertaining summers of Rose’s men – Botham, Richards, Garner, Roebuck, Marks and Denning – remain unrivalled as the Golden Age of Somerset Cricket. Here in 'Rosey' Brian Rose tells the inside story of those years: from his apprenticeship under the extraordinary Brian Close to the sad and acrimonious break-up of the side. Reading his account of it all, it is not hard to understand how his quiet captaincy held together so many strong personalities. Both then and as Director of Cricket in the 2000s, he has been at the heart of so much of what is best about Somerset cricket.

Has any county cricket club come close to the success of Warwickshire in the summer of 1994? Boosted by the late signing of Brian Lara, inspired by the maverick captain Dermot Reeve, fine-tuned by the ground-breaking coach Bob Woolmer, the little-fancied Bears won three trophies and were runners-up in the fourth. Patrick Murphy, working for the BBC in the Midlands, saw much of the action that summer, and in 'The Greatest Season' he tells the extraordinary story, drawing on the testimony not only of the team and the backroom staff but of many of their outwitted opponents. Though the tale has its moments of conflict and sadness, 'The Greatest Season' is above all a celebratory book, enhanced by previously unseen images from photographer Graham Morris.

The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, first published in 1979, is well established as an invaluable and unique source of reference essential to any cricket library. This new volume includes full scorecards and match reports from 1877 to 1977. Originally edited by Bill Frindall, this new volume brings collectors' libraries up to date, ensuring they have a complete and accurate record - essential for any truly self-respecting cricket enthusiast.

The Wisden Book of Test Cricket, first published in 1979, is well established as an invaluable and unique source of reference essential to any cricket library. This new volume includes full scorecards and match reports from 1977 to 2000. Originally edited by Bill Frindall, this new volume brings collectors' libraries up to date, ensuring they have a complete and accurate record - essential for any truly self-respecting cricket enthusiast.

There are few parts of "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" that embody the magic and appeal of the game more than "Cricket Round the World." "Elk Stopped Play "is a carefully-chosen selection of stories from twenty years of one of "Wisden"'s""most-loved sections. Combining the highlights of two decades of the Almanack's coverage of the game's further reaches, as well as original material that places the stories in context and expands upon the incidents and personalities involved, it is an original and eccentric examination of the sport's enduring worldwide appeal. There are extraordinary matches, great individual performances, stories of exceptional pioneering dedication and quirky incidents from all over the world, from games staged on tiny, far-flung Pacific islands to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic, from cricketers dodging mortars in Baghdad to Indonesian mud wickets on converted buffalo paddocks via fractured French skulls, Antarctic barbecues and untimely interruptions by Finnish elk. The perfect book to dip into either during the cricket season or during the long wait for the end of April to come round again, "Elk Stopped Play" is a fantastic addition to the "Wisden" bookshelf.

"A most interesting and unusual anthology, Lunchtime Medley: Writings on West Indian Cricket brings together a range of pieces related to West Indian cricket. Selected by poet and critic Mervyn Morris and sports historian Jimmy Carnegie, it samples outstanding fiction, drama, poetry, calypsos, humour, social analysis as well as memorable cricket reporting and commentary. Contributors include: Edward Baugh . Tony Becca . Hilary Beckles . Lord Beginner . James Berry Lloyd Best . Stewart Brown . Bertie Callender . Neville Cardus . Tony Cozier Kwame Dawes . Neville Dawes . C.L.R. James . Paul Keens-Douglas Tim Hector . Michael Holding . Earl Lovelace . Michael Manley Ian McDonald . V.S. Naipaul . Orlando Patterson . Caryl Phillips Gordon Rohlehr . David Rudder. Samuel Selvon . Rene Simoes The Mighty Sparrow . Donna Symmonds . Errol Townsend . Derek Walcott The collection will reward sports fans and anyone interested in West Indian Culture. "

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.

Barrie Meyer has had a lifetime in professional sport, as a cricketer with Gloucestershire, a footballer with Bristol Rovers and Bristol City, and twenty-five years as a first-class and Test match umpire. This autobiography reflects on his extraordinary career in sport. It offers a different perspective on cricket in the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

Surrey County Cricket Club have been involved in many titanic struggles over the years. With match reports, scorecards and illustrations, this book recounts vital and historic encounters against rival first-class counties and touring sides from around the world.

Bowler's Name? is a tale of a life in cricket's margins. Tom Hicks is no household name, but he often rubbed shoulders with cricketing royalty, going from the village green to walking out as captain at Lord's. As an ambitious youngster, Hicks dreamed of reaching the top. But trying to make it big and balance the demands of university, family, a full-time job and a penchant for post-match fun was no easy feat. Settling for an unglamorous life as a minor county player, cricket took him to all corners of the country, and then across the globe, getting an insight into the nether regions of a cricketing world that was rapidly vanishing. Through the eyes of a cricket nut, Bowler's Name? takes us on a journey of success, failure, hilarity and often sheer madness. If you've ever wondered what it's like to face 90mph bowling, to have lunch with Mike Gatting or to infiltrate an England post-match party, Hicks is your man. Bowler's Name? is for fans of cricket idiosyncrasies, lovers of the underdog and anyone who has tried and failed.

THIS is the place where the first Test match on English soil took place and the Ashes were invented. win Tests against the Windies in the 1990s. (1930) and Don Bradman (1948). Test victory from the Australians in 1902. in 1880. Full scorecards and match reports for every game are brought alive by the words of those who played, watched and organised some of the greatest ever Tests. David Mortimer has talked to some of the many great players who played at The Oval - including Pat Pocock, Alec and Eric Bedser, Raman Subba Row - and begins his book with a history of this famous ground.

A history of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club

This book covers a century of the best, most charismatic and most controversial men ever to don the white coat and stand for first-class cricket. From the great Victorian personalities to the stalwarts of the modern era, such as Dicky Bird, David Shepperd and Peter Willey, this book profile the best of those imposing characters, who can make or break a batsman with the simple raising of a finger.

Samir Chopra is an immigrant, a "voluntary exile," who discovers he can tell the story of his life through cricket, a game that has long been an influence-really, an obsession-for him. In so doing, he reveals how his changing views on the sport mirror his journey of self-discovery. In The Evolution of a Cricket Fan, Chopra is thus able to reflect on his changing perceptions of self, and of the nations and cultures that have shaped his identity, politics, displacement, and fandom. Chopra's passion for the sport began as a child, when he rooted for Pakistan and against his native India. When he migrated, he became a fan of the Indian team that gave him a sense of home among the various cultures he encountered in North America and Australia. This "shapeshifting" exposes the rift between the Old and the New world, which Chopra acknowledges is "cricket's greatest modern crisis." But it also illuminates the identity dilemmas of post-colonial immigrants in the Indian diaspora. Chopra's thoughts about the sport and its global influence are not those of a player. He provides access to the inner world of the global cricket fan navigating the world that colonial empire wrought and that cricket continues to connect and animate. He observes that the Indian cricket team carries many burdens-not only must they win cricket matches, but their style of play must generate a pride that assuages generations of wounds inflicted by history. And Chopra must navigate where he stands in that history. The Evolution of a Cricket Fan shows Chopra's own wins and losses as his life takes new directions and his fandom changes allegiances.

'A surprising gem' Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 'In summertime village cricket is the delight of everyone' the English judge Lord Denning famously wrote, in a case brought by someone who clearly disagreed with him. The case was just one example of how the game of cricket cannot always avoid the law. Neighbours or passers-by get hit by stray cricket balls, protesters interrupt matches, players get into fights, take drugs, and sue each other for libel. Court and Bowled examines a number of stories where cricket or cricketers gave rise to a legal dispute. Some involved the giants of the game such as Grace, Botham and Imran. Others involved village cricketers of more modest talents who were unable to keep the peace between themselves. Some cases were of critical importance to the game, such as Kerry Packer's High Court action in the late 1970s. Others were rather more trivial, such as spectators indulging in lewd attention-seeking behaviour. All of the stories demonstrated something common to both cricket matches and court cases: behind the intrigue, entertainment and theatrics of both there are always real people and real human stories. The book is written in a clear, accessible style, free of legal technicalities. It has been updated for the paperback edition to include the tragic death of Phillip Hughes, the perjury trial of Chris Cairns and the ball-tampering incident involving Faf du Plessis.