Cricket Banter is all the rage among the cricketing cognoscenti and the chat, the sledging and the humour behind the game is all covered here, by those boys at The Middle Stump, in conjunction with Factor 50. Here we cover most aspects of cricket, as we speak with some of the finest, funniest, larger than life characters from the sport over the last thirty years, along with a selection of hilarious stories about the game. It's a highly amusing book; read it and you'll see why most cricketers, whether from club, county or international level, as well as the sport's most prominent journalists are all talking about those cheeky chaps from The Middle Stump, and their alternative take on the game of cricket.

When Cricket and Politics Collided describes one of the most extraordinary periods in the history of English cricket. A meeting on 27 August 1968 to select the players for a MCC winter tour of South Africa started a chain of events which would shake the very foundations of the cricket establishment. Over the next two years tours were cancelled, another abandoned and finally one of the founding Test playing nations banned from international cricket for over twenty years. Remarkably during this upheaval, and at very short notice, two replacement Test series were played. The first between between Pakistan and England, took place in a country where law and order were disintigrating and as a result the tour schedule was changing on an almost daily basis. The players were under enormous stress, their safety genuinely at risk, and even the country's President would soon be deposed. The second, pitted England against the Rest of the World, opponents that many considered to be the strongest ever assembled for an international match. These two series produced some of the most exciting cricket of the period, and yet both are now largely forgotten.

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.

Glamorgan CCC is Wales' sole representative in the world of county cricket. Formed in 1888, the Club at first faced some difficult years before joining the Minor County Championship in 1897. After a series of successful summers, they were admitted into the first-class game in 1921 but this initially proved a massive step for the Cardiff-based club to take, as defeats became more commonplace than victories. However, after overcoming financial uncertainties in the 1930s, and the loss of their influential captain, Maurice Turnbull, during the Second World War, Glamorgan won the County Championship title in 1948 under Wilf Wooller besides providing a series of players for England teams. The good times continued in the 1960s when they defeated the Australians on back-to-back tours, and lifted the County Championship title again in 1969 under Tony Lewis. Further silverware came Glamorgan's way during the 1990s as they won the Sunday League in 1993 before Matthew Maynard led them to a third Championship in 1997. During the 2000s, the Welsh side lifted the one-day title again in 2002 and 2004, before embarking on a successful stadium development scheme at their headquarters which saw Test cricket come to Wales in July 2009 as Cardiff hosted the Ashes Test between England and Australia. Changing Faces - Glamorgan CCC 1888-2012 celebrates the people who have taken the Club on this remarkable journey and who have worn the Club's colours with pride and distinction. Using a series of team photographs and group images from the Club's archives - many of which have never been previously published - this is a fascinating collection that will greatly appeal to Glamorgan supporters and lovers of Welsh sport in general.

Sussex and England superstar Maurice Tate's story is one of triumph and fame, controversy and tragedy. In the 1920s and 1930s, the all-rounder was the world's most popular cricketer, famed for his brilliant bowling and broad smile - unlike his infamous cricketing father, whose costly error he more than repaid. In his day, Tate's enormous feet were the subject of a music-hall song, his extra pace considered 'magical'; he's now recognised as the first proper 'seam' bowler. He took almost 2800 first-class wickets and thrilled crowds with rapid-fire sixes and centuries. But along the way he suffered a nervous breakdown at the Bodyline series, and threw beer over Douglas Jardine. After a bitter sacking by Sussex, he became a pub landlord and died in poverty. Recently voted Sussex's greatest ever player, Tate doesn't figure in any more widespread Hall of Fame. It's time to remember this forgotten great of England cricket.

In 1968, Yorkshire County Cricket Club won a record 29th outright County Championship title. Blessed with the talents of Brian Close, Fred Trueman and Geoffrey Boycott, they dominated their opponents through sheer desire, skill and belief. It was a golden era for the club, and no one saw it coming to an end. But over the next few years, everything changed. Yorkshire's star players departed and their rivals benefited from the introduction of overseas professionals like Garry Sobers, Viv Richards and Clive Rice. As they decided only to hire those born within the county, Yorkshire struggled to compete with their contemporaries and became one of the worst-performing teams in the land. It was a dire time for the club. But when a young Sachin Tendulkar arrived at Headingley in April 1992, a revolution began. Through his talent and personality, Yorkshire's first overseas player modernised a failing institution and gained experience that helped him become the greatest international batsman of his generation. This is the story of how a promising 19-year-old became an Honorary Tyke... and, in the process, changed the history of England's most successful club.

When England cricket captain Tony Greig announced that he intended to make the West Indies 'grovel', he lit a fire that burned as intensely as the sunshine that made 1976 one of the most memorable summers in British history. Spurred on by what they saw as a deeply offensive remark, especially from a white South African, Clive Lloyd's touring team vowed to make Greig pay. In Viv Richards, emerging as the world's most exciting batsman, and fast bowlers Michael Holding and Andy Roberts they had the players to do it. Featuring interviews with key figures from English and West Indian cricket, Grovel!: The Story and Legacy of the Summer of 1976 provides a fascinating study of the events and social issues surrounding one of the sport's most controversial and colourful tours - as well as addressing the decline of West Indies cricket and its loss of support in the new century.

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.

In this highly entertaining book Fred Rumsey looks back on an eventful life, in which he opened the bowling for England in five Tests, single-handedly advanced the idea of a Professional Cricketers’ Association, pioneered the development of public relations in cricket, played a leading role in the expansion of the Lord’s Taverners and developed cricket and football tournaments in the Caribbean. There is fun aplenty, as befits one who was a friend of comedians Eric Morecambe and Dave Allen, but there is also a sense of social purpose, to be found not only in the years when he took on cricket’s establishment but in his long service to the charity work of the Lord’s Taverners and his close bond with the anti-apartheid South African journalist Donald Woods. From the poignancy of his description of an East End childhood during the Blitz to the wonderfully funny tale of his sharing a hotel room with Geoffrey Boycott, 'Sense of Humour, Sense of Justice' is full of delights – with insights into a rich array of characters, among them David Gower, Bobby Moore, David Frost and his great mate Colin Milburn.

As a toddler, Geoff plays a straight bat with a frying pan, knocking his brother unconscious. They both survive and go on to share an obsession with cricket. From playing as kids in oversized pads, they become recreational cricketers and devotees of England and Notts. Cricket, My Brother and Me is rich in humorous anecdotes and personal memories of 50 eventful years playing and watching cricket. Accounts of early life as cricketers see the brothers trying to emulate their heroes and failing miserably, finally settling for the role of spectator. Memories include the torture and the glory of watching the Ashes, touring abroad and the more sedate joys of county cricket. The book describes the brothers' fraught first encounter with the Barmy Army and later touring as part of the world's greatest supporters' club. Ardent fans will enjoy the serious reflections on cricket and politics and thoughts on the future of the sport. This is a 'must read' for cricket lovers and for those intrigued as to why cricket can inflame such passion.

From Alfred Ackroyd to Yuvraj Singh, from Isaac Hodgson in 1863 to Kraigg Brathwaite in 2017, this volume features profiles of all those 670 men who have represented The Yorkshire CCC by playing for its first eleven in first-class cricket, limited-overs matches or Twenty20 games as well as the 59 who played for 'Yorkshire' prior to the official Club's formation. Whether they played in an amazing total of 883 matches, as Wilfred Rhodes did, or whether they wore the county colours just once – and this, surprisingly, applies to 115 players – each and every one of them has their own place in the county’s history and the contents within. Produced in quality hardback and featuring over 250 illustrations – this is a must read for fans of YCCC

Few other team sports can equal the global reach of cricket. Rich in history and tradition, it is both quintessentially English and expansively international, a game that has evolved and changed dramatically in recent times. Demonstrating how the history of cricket and its international popularity is entwined with British imperial expansion, this book examines the social and political impact of the game in a variety of cultural sites: the West Indies, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. An international team of contributors explores the enduring influence of cricket on English identity, examines why cricket has seized the imagination of so many literary figures and provides profiles of iconic players including Bradman, Lara and Tendulkar. Presenting a global panoramic view of cricket's complicated development, its unique adaptability and its political and sporting controversies, the book provides a rich insight into a unique sporting and cultural heritage.

John Arlott, one of cricket's most revered commentators said of Farokh Engineer: "He finds both cricket and life fun; he laughs easily and his jokes are often very funny but he can be grave. His appeals are as loud as anyone's yet off the field he is quietly spoken. As a batsman or wicketkeeper he is aggressive, yet he is a man of consideration and courtesy. There has always been a quality of generosity about his cricket and his way of life." In this new book 'Farokh, The Cricketing Cavalier' Colin Evans, former cricket writer for the Manchester Evening News, looks back at Engineer's career, recalling many magical moments with Lancashire and India though the 1960s and 1970s. "John Arlott summed up Farokh so well," says Evans. ""I watched many of his performances for Lancashire from 1968 to 1976 and he had the ability to lighten up the gloomiest Manchester day, whether on the pitch or off it. Nowadays, 40 years after his retirement from the game, he is still warmly welcomed all over the world as an ambassador for cricket."

Included in the Financial Times best books of 2020 selection 'For those who fear the worst for the sport they love, this is like cool, clear water for a man dying of thirst. It's barnstorming, coruscating stuff, and as fine a book about the game as you'll read for years' Mail on Sunday 'Charming . . . a threnody for a vanished and possibly mythical England' Sebastian Faulks, Sunday Times 'Lyrical . . . [Henderson's] pen is filled with the romantic spirit of the great Neville Cardus . . . This book is an extended love letter, a beautifully written one, to a world that he is desperate to keep alive for others to discover and share. Not just his love of cricket, either, but of poetry and classical music and fine cinema' The Times (best summer books) 'To those who love both cricket and the context in which it is played, the book is rather wonderful, and moving' Daily Telegraph 'Philip Larkin's line 'that will be England gone' is the premise of this fascinating book which is about music, literature, poetry and architecture as well as cricket. Henderson is that rare bird, a reporter with a fine grasp of time and place, but also a stylist of enviable quality and perception' Michael Parkinson Neville Cardus once said there could be no summer in England without cricket. The 2019 season was supposed to be the greatest summer of cricket ever seen in England. There was a World Cup, followed by five Test matches against Australia in the latest engagement of sport's oldest rivalry. It was also the last season of county cricket before the introduction in 2020 of a new tournament, The Hundred, designed to attract an audience of younger people who have no interest in the summer game. In That Will Be England Gone, Michael Henderson revisits much-loved places to see how the game he grew up with has changed since the day in 1965 that he saw the great fast bowler Fred Trueman in his pomp. He watches schoolboys at Repton, club cricketers at Ramsbottom, and professionals on the festival grounds of Chesterfield, Cheltenham and Scarborough. The rolling English road takes him to Leicester for T20, to Lord's for the most ceremonial Test match, and to Taunton to watch an old cricketer leave the crease for the last time. He is enchanted at Trent Bridge, surprised at the Oval, and troubled at Old Trafford. 'Cricket,' Henderson says, 'has always been part of my other life.' There are memories of friendships with Ken Dodd, Harold Pinter and Simon Rattle, and the book is coloured throughout by a love of landscape, poetry, paintings and music. As well as reflections on his childhood hero, Farokh Engineer, and other great players, there are digressions on subjects as various as Lancashire comedians, Viennese melancholy and the films of Michael Powell. Lyrical and elegiac, That Will Be England Gone is a deeply personal tribute to cricket, summer and England.

'Sweet Shires' is a book about cricket; it is also a photo-book, with forty-two full-page, high-quality prints.Dave Morton has briefly detailed his own background in the game, from cricket-mad young boy in 1950s Bradford, through teenage years in Staffordshire, and on to thirty summers, and more, as an amateur league player in Manchester. The photographs belong to the author's later years. Follow him on a journey through the sweet green shires of England and Wales. The major grounds are represented here, and the smaller County HQs. There are the 'outgrounds' too, those venues used by County Clubs for occasional matches, or for 2nd XI fixtures. Nor has the grass-roots game been neglected, with many scenic views of club grounds, mostly in the North of England. Each photograph is accompanied by Dave's anecdotes of players and matches fondly remembered, and of his encounters with the eccentric folk who follow the game, away from TV's spotlight.

The latest release in the Remarkable illustated sports series features Britain's idyllic village cricket grounds. Featuring original photography from all corners of the British Isles. Written by Brian Levison, author of the 8,000-selling Remarkable Cricket Grounds, an Amazon No.1 bestseller.

Winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, this is the first ever biography of Harold Larwood. Larwood, one of the most talented, accurate and intimidating fast bowlers of all time is mainly remembered for his role in the infamous Bodyline series of 1932-3 which brought Anglo-Australian diplomatic relations to the brink of collapse. Larwood was made the scapegoat - and despite the fact he was simply following his captain's instructions, he never played cricket for England again. Devastated by this betrayal, he eventually emigrated to Australia, where he was accepted by the country that had once despised him. Acclaimed author Duncan Hamilton has gained unprecedented access to the late sportsman's family and archives to tell the story of a true working-class hero and cricketing legend.