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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > Cricket
"An intricate and colourful story of deception beautifully
rendered. As a portrait of the idiosyncrasies of English cricket,
Cometh the Yuan is a Chinese cut above the rest." - The Guardian
They said it could never happen. They said such a national treasure
would never be allowed to fall into China's insatiable grasping
clutches. And anyway, they said, what could China possibly want
with the spiritual home of the game of cricket? Retribution, said
some. Lord's Cricket Ground owes its eighteenth century origins to
fortunes made from getting the Chinese hooked on opium and now it's
payback time. Nonsense, said China. We're just extending a helping
hand to a western cultural icon in a financial fix. Honest.
Smelling a sizeable rat in China's assurances, the fraternity of
world cricket starts digging. What it unearths is enough to shake
western civilisation to its roots. With England's hosting of the
Cricket World Cup just a year away, China's motives for taking an
interest in Lord's are not only not honourable, it discovers,
they're simply not cricket."
The most thrilling and controversial cricketer of his generation,
Brian Lara is a hero to millions worldwide. A naturally attacking
style and limitless scoring arc, allied to phenomenal mental and
physical stamina, proved a recipe for some of the biggest and
most-compelling innings in cricket history. This new biography
charts the influences that shaped Lara as a child batting prodigy,
through an astonishing and turbulent career and onto his
post-cricket life as businessman, benefactor and national icon.
Through in-depth interviews with former international players,
coaches, teachers, neighbours, friends and family members, new
light is shed on this brilliant but complex man; a true Caribbean
hero who still has many chapters to write.
Adolf Hitler despised cricket, considering it un-German and
decadent. And Berlin in 1937 was not a time to be going against the
Fuhrer's wishes. But hot on the heels of the 1936 Olympics, an
enterprising cricket fanatic of enormous bravery, Felix Menzel,
somehow persuaded his Nazi leaders to invite an English team to
play his motley band of part-timers. That team was the Gentlemen of
Worcestershire, an ill-matched group of mavericks, minor nobility,
ex-county cricketers, rich businessmen and callow schoolboys - led
by former Worcestershire CC skipper Major Maurice Jewell. Ordered
'not to lose' by the MCC, Jewell and his men entered the 'Garden of
Beasts' to play two unofficial Test matches against Germany.
Against a backdrop of repression, brutality and sporadic gunfire,
the Gents battled searing August heat, matting pitches, the skill
and cunning of Menzel, and opponents who didn't always adhere to
the laws and spirit of the game. The tour culminated in a match at
the very stadium which a year before had witnessed one of sport's
greatest spectacles and a sinister public display of Nazi might.
Despite the shadow cast by the cataclysmic conflict that was
shortly to engulf them, Dan Waddell's vivid and detailed account of
the Gentlemen of Worcestershire's 1937 Berlin tour is a story of
triumph: of civility over barbarity, of passion over indifference
and hope over despair.
As Roger Morgan-Grenville prepares for a new season with the White
Hunter Cricket Club, he is starting to feel his age, so he embarks
on a secret plan of coaching, yoga and psychology to improve his
game. Will he emerge as a sporting demigod, or will his teammates
even notice the difference. This is the humorous and heartwarming
story of that cricket season, as the White Hunters go from disaster
to triumph. It is a tale of competitiveness, suspense, excellence,
hospitality and incompetence, such as the missing fielder found
asleep in the woods and the two opening bowlers whose MG Roadster
breaks down on the way to the game. From the Castle Ground at
Arundel to a field next to a nudist camp in France, players such as
the Tree Hugger, the Gun Runner, and their wicket-keeper, the Human
Sieve, share the dream that this might be their day. Above all, it
is the uplifting story of friendship among a team of not-very-good
players who find enough moments of near brilliance to remind them
why they turn up for more, game after game, season after season.
'The best book on captaincy, written by an expert' - Mike Atherton
Mike Brearley is one of the most successful cricket captains of all
time, and, in 1981, he captained the England team to the momentous
Ashes series victory against Australia. In The Art of Captaincy,
his study on leadership and motivation, he draws directly on his
experience of man-managing a team, which included a pugnacious Ian
Botham and Geoffrey Boycott, to explain what it takes to be a
leader on and off the field. Giving an insight into both his
tactical understanding of the game, as well as how to get a group
of individuals playing as a team in order to get the best out of
them, The Art of Captaincy is a classic handbook on how to
generate, nurture and inspire success. With a foreword by former
England player and BBC commentator Ed Smith, to celebrate the
thirtieth anniversary of its first publication, and an afterword by
director Sam Mendes, The Art of Captaincy remains urgently relevant
for cricket fans and business leaders alike. Covering the ability
to use intuition, resourcefulness, clear-headedness and the
importance of empathy as a means of achieving shared goals,
Brearley's seminal account of captaincy is both the ultimate
blueprint for creating a winning mind set, but also shows how the
lessons in the sporting arena can be applied to any walk of
personal and professional life.
Of all the books about cricket, Mike Harfield's "Not Dark Yet"
brings a rare authenticity to the subject. This is a book by a
genuine cricketer and a genuine cricket fan with a talent for
capturing the spirit of this special game in his witty prose. David
Lloyd, aka Bumble, laughed so much he agreed to write the Foreword.
He even showed the book to Christopher Martin-Jenkins who found it
'very entertaining and enjoyable'. Reading the book raises the
spirits with its cheerful jollity. The mixture of banter and
eclectic cricketing information carries the reader along, making
for both easy and captivating reading. Loosely based around Mike
Harfield's captaincy of a cricket XI over 30 years, Not Dark Yet is
both the humorous story of his team's efforts and his often
irreverent take on first-class and international cricket. For 30
years the Mike Harfield XI has withstood atrocious umpiring,
dreadful hangovers, bad haircuts and a woeful lack of talent, only
to encounter an even greater adversity - middle age. Spiced with
humour and plenty of banter about fellow team-mates and
international players alike, their captain's tales convey an
authentic picture of one team's endeavours, to which cricketers and
non cricketers will easily relate.
Cricket is an Indian game accidentally invented by the English, it
has famously been said. Today, the Indian cricket team is a
powerful national symbol, a unifying force in a country riven by
conflicts. But India was represented by a cricket team long before
it became an independent nation. Drawing on an unparalleled range
of original archival sources, Cricket Country is the story of the
first All India cricket tour of Great Britain and Ireland. It is
also the extraordinary tale of how the idea of India took shape on
the cricket field in the high noon of empire. Conceived by an
unlikely coalition of colonial and local elites, it took twelve
years and three failed attempts before an Indian cricket team made
its debut on the playing fields of imperial Britain. This historic
tour, which took place against the backdrop of revolutionary
politics in the Edwardian era, featured an improbable cast of
characters. The teams young captain was the newly enthroned ruler
of a powerful Sikh state. The other cricketers were chosen on the
basis of their religious identity. Remarkably, for the day, two of
the players were Dalits. Over the course of the blazing Coronation
summer of 1911, these Indians participated in a collective
enterprise that epitomizes the way in which sport and above all
cricket helped fashion the imagined communities of both empire and
nation.
In March 1977, England cricket captain Tony Greig was arguably the
most famous and popular sportsman in the country, and the best
all-rounder in world cricket. He had recently led England to a
famous series victory in India, her first successful campaign on
the subcontinent since the Second World War. Then he had conjured a
doughty performance from his travel-weary troops in the dramatic,
one-off Centenary Test in Melbourne, narrowly losing by 45 runs.
Within weeks, though, his reputation was in tatters. He was branded
a traitor and mercenary, stripped of the England captaincy and
excluded from the national side. He was also relieved of the Sussex
captaincy and banned from first-class cricket for eight weeks. His
involvement in the controversial 'Packer Revolution' had caused his
fall from grace. Soon afterwards, he left England for good for a
commentary career in Australia. At 6ft 7in, Greig was a giant of
the game both figuratively and literally. His life story is every
bit as fascinating as the controversy that engulfed him.
Dhar shows with in his unique style how cricket can change flight
schedules, disrupt board meetings, encourage spirituality, promote
the sale of effigies etc. He also explains what goes on a in
"huddle". For decades he has tickle our funny bone with his wit.
No ground in the world can compete with the Oval's illustrious
sporting history. Not just the scene of some of cricket's greatest
moments -- from the birth of the Ashes to Fred Trueman's 300th
wicket -- the Oval also hosted the first-ever football and rugby
internationals in England, and the first-ever FA Cup Final. This
stunning 240 page coffee table book reflects back on the rich
history that has unfolded under the shadow of the world's most
famous Gasometer -- from Don Bradman's farewell innings to the rock
concert by The Who. Meticulously researched and featuring some of
the best sports photographs ever taken, Oval Reflections is a
fitting tribute to the past, present and future of 'the people's
ground'.
C.T.Studd - Cricketer and Pioneer By Norman P. Grubb. Originally
published in 1933. A fascinating biography of an english country
gentleman and cricketer who becomes a devoted missionary. Contents
Include Foreword by Alfred B.Buxton Author's preface A visit to a
theatre and it's consequences Three Etonians get a shock An all
England cricketer The crisis A revival breaks out among students
C.T. becomes a Chinaman He gives away a fortune An Irish girl and a
dream United to fight for Jesus Perils and hardships in inland
China On the American campus Six years in India A mans's man The
greatest venture of all Through cannibal tribes The very heart of
Africa C.T. among the natives Forward ever Backward never The God
of wonders When the holy ghost came Bwana's house and daily life
Hallelujah God enabling us We go on 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.
Last Wicket Stand is an honest account of one man's search for
meaning, purpose and reinvention, both for himself and the sport he
loves. At the start of the 2020 season, English county cricket
faced radical change. The Hundred was coming, introducing new
'franchises' playing a new format in the hope of attracting
much-needed new audiences. Its inception was controversial.
Advocates argued only drastic action could halt the decline of
cricket in the UK. Opponents feared it would undermine the very
fabric of the much-loved county game. One devoted Essex fan set out
to document the last summer before the big change. He toured the
country in 2019 chronicling this often-ignored sport, from the
gentle lullaby of the County Championship to the bawdy singalong of
T20 Finals Day. Richard Clarke was in his 50th year, at a personal
crossroads and fearing his best days may be long gone. Change vs
tradition, growth vs security, money vs meaning - these perennial
struggles lie at the heart of this absorbing and revealing journey
of redemption.
Cricket defines Englishness like no other national pastime. From
its earliest origins in the sixteenth century (or an early version
played by shepherds called creag in the 1300s), through the
formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in
1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was first published and the Ashes
series was born, this simple sport of bat and ball has captured the
imagination of the masses. Throughout its 500-year history, cricket
has been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes
that have brought us from the quintessential village green to
Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar, via a
fair number of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains. William
Hill Award-winning writer Simon Hughes, no mean player himself, has
lived and breathed cricket his whole life and now takes his
analytical skills and typically irreverent eye to charting the
history of English cricket. But this is no dry, dusty tome. It is
the story of the mad characters who inhabit the game, the
extraordinary lengths people will go to to watch and play it, the
tale of a national obsession. It debunks the myth of cricket
sportsmanship, showing the origins of sledging and match-fixing in
centuries of subterfuge, corruption and violence. And it takes us
beyond sport, to the heart of what it really means to be English.
The third edition of the hugely successful Ashes Miscellany, a
bestseller in 2005 and 2007. Fully revised, updated and repackaged
to include the victorious 2009 and 2010/11 series, the book
celebrates the rich history of one of the oldest and greatest
rivalries in sport. Packed with facts, figures, lists, quotes and
anecdotes - from the legend of the burning of the bails in 1871 to
England's amazing triumph in 2011, from W.G. Grace and Don Bradman
to David Boon's Ashes record of drinking 58 beers on the flight
from Sydney to London!
No object encapsulates the subtle, mysterious richness of cricket
as much as its most famous character, the cricket ball: the
swinging, bouncing, spinning heart of the glorious game. Gary Cox
tells us the life story of the ball in its many guises: new ball,
old ball, live ball, dead ball, no-ball, lost ball, swing ball and
dot ball. He untangles the complexities of spin bowling (with a
little help from Shane Warne), the tricks and cheats involved in
ball tampering (including a look at the 2018 Australian scandal)
and explores the multi-coloured future of a rapidly changing game.
A kaleidoscopic look at the ball through the lenses of everything
from philosophy and science to history, politics and biography and
the myriad facts and figures of the vast cricket universe, Cox
brings you a brimming biography of this legendary leathern orb and
the heroes, fools and villains it has created along the way.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR SPORTS AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
THE YEAR AT THE 2020 TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS. BEN STOKES:
WINNER OF THE 2019 BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD 'He is
the Special One, and I intend to call him that for the rest of his
career' Sir Ian Botham, Daily Telegraph 'There are not enough
superlatives to describe Ben Stokes' Nasser Hussain, Daily Mail
'The undisputed hero of English cricket' The Times Early evening on
Sunday 14th July 2019. Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Something
unprecedented had just happened: England had won the Cricket World
Cup for the very first time since the tournament's inception in
1975. At the epicentre of England's historic triumph was Ben
Stokes, the talismanic all-rounder with an insatiable appetite for
The Big Occasion. He contributed a critical 84 runs off 98 balls
when England batted, a seemingly nerveless innings of discipline
and maturity. Thrillingly, it was enough to tie the scores at 241
runs each, so the match reverted to a Super Over - just six balls
for each side to bat in the ultimate in sporting sudden-death.
Stokes and Jos Buttler saw England to 15 runs off their over. When
it was finally confirmed that Martin Guptill had been run out off
the very last ball of New Zealand's Super Over with the scores
level once again, England had astonishingly won on the boundary
count-back, and the nation could finally breathe again. Early
evening on Sunday 25th August 2019. A sun-drenched Headingley in
Leeds. Having been bowled out for just 67 earlier in the Third
Test, England were facing the prospect of failing to regain the
Ashes. In their second innings England were still 73 runs short of
victory with a solitary wicket remaining. Australia were near
certainties to retain the Ashes there and then. Cue one of the most
amazing innings ever witnessed as Ben Stokes thrashed the
Australian bowlers to all corners of the ground, in the process
scoring 135 not out, driving England to a barely-believable
one-wicket victory, and keeping the series very much alive. The
nation took another breath. On Fire is Ben Stokes' brand new book,
and in it he tells the story of England's electrifying first ever
Cricket World Cup triumph, as well as this summer's momentous Ashes
Test series. It is the ultimate insider's account of the most
nerve-shredding but riveting three-and-a-half months in English
cricket history.
How is it possible that the Proteas have never won a single knockout match at a World Cup? Are our cricketers unable to think on their feet? Is it fair to call them ‘chokers’? What can be done to win at last?
Since South Africa’s readmission to world cricket in 1991, the Proteas have played in six World Cups (and four World T20 tournaments) and have been knocked out in all of them. The reasons range from the weather and misreading the Duckworth–Lewis table to being outwitted on the field itself. In the most recent tournaments, though, they have shown a scandalous lack of nerve in the pressure-cooker of international knockout cricket.
Drawing from interviews with the major protagonists and behind-the-scenes officials, The Art of Losing recreates the drama of these matches. With fresh anecdotes, stories and insights, it also attempts to explain why World Cup failure has become a habit. Does the problem lie with coaching, with communication issues, or with a lack of independent thinking among the players? Is it the product of a pampered professional environment, or of the South African schooling system?
The Art of Losing will ruffle feathers but will also attempt to explain the ‘choker’ tag that has become so widespread. Is it fair? The Proteas, after all, win a high proportion of their one-day matches and have some of the best cricketers in the world. Why, then, do they invariably fail to clear that final hurdle?
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