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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > Cricket
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.
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Rosey
(Hardcover)
Brian Rose, Anthony Gibson; Foreword by Vic Marks
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R488
Discovery Miles 4 880
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Ships in 9 - 17 working days
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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.
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Yuvi
(Paperback)
Makarand Waingankar
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R251
Discovery Miles 2 510
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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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.
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Sweet Shires
(Paperback)
Dave Morton; Photographs by Dave Morton
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R314
Discovery Miles 3 140
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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'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.
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