Fred Trueman was so much more than a cricketing legend. ' The greatest living Yorkshireman' according to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, he couldn' t help excelling at everything he did, whether it was as a hostile fast bowler for Yorkshire and England, and the first man to take 300 Test wickets in a career, or as a fearlessly outspoken radio summariser for Test Match Special. He was famous for regularly spluttering that, ' I don' t know what' s going off out there,' as well as for the amount of swearing he managed to incorporate into everyday speech. Beloved of cricket crowds, who filled grounds to witness his belligerent way of playing the game, and nothing but trouble to the cricket authorities, ' Fiery Fred' was the epitome of a full-blooded Englishman. But as Chris Waters reveals in this first full biography, behind the charismatic, exuberant mask lay a far less self-assured man - terrified even that his new dog wouldn' t like him - and whose bucolic version of his upbringing bore no relation to the gritty and impoverished South Yorkshire mining community where he actually grew up. Drawing on dozens of new interviews with his Yorkshire colleagues, family and friends, this life of Fred Trueman will surprise and even shock, but also confirm the status of an English folk hero.

'A highly entertaining read, deftly melding social history with sporting memoir and travelogue' Mail on Sunday A history of Latin America through cricket Cricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already ten years into their derby played across the River Plate. The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen said that, during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two World Wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meatpackers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, only to be beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932. The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca today is not as far-fetched as it sounds. But Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is also a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica. Cricket was the favoured sport of Chile's Nitrate King. Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe. The notorious Pablo Escobar even had a shadowy connection to the game. The fate of cricket in South America was symbolised by Eva Peron ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme. Cricket journalists Timothy Abraham and James Coyne take us on a journey to discover this largely untold story of cricket's fate in the world's most colourful continent. Fascinating and surprising, Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion is a valuable addition to cricketing and social history.

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.

Born in Bolton tells the history of the 38 first-class cricketers, including 12 Test Players, to have been born in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The first was Walter Hardcastle, born in Great Bolton in 1843, while the most recent are Matt Parkinson and Josh Bohannon. In between there are some fascinating stories of the careers enjoyed by so many Boltonians down the years such as R.,G.Barlow, Charlie Hallows, Dick Tyldesley, Roy Tattersall, Jack Bond, Frank Tyson, Mike Watkinson, Karl Brown, Sajid Mahmood, and many others. Why Bolton has produced so many fine cricketers and is such a cricket stronghold is explained by two excellent contributions from local cricket historians David Kaye and Jack Williams. Each book is accompanied by a fold-out map listing over 300 clubs in the Bolton area and the location of over 100 cricket grounds.

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.

Winner of the MCC Book of the Year Award His father was a first-class cricketer, his grandfather was a slave. Born in rural Trinidad in 1901, Learie Constantine was the most dynamic all-round cricketer of his age (1928-1939) when he played Test cricket for the West Indies and club cricket for Nelson. Few who saw Constantine in action would ever forget the experience. As well as the cricketing genius that led to Constantine being described as 'the most original cricketer of his time', Connie illuminates the world that he grew up in, a place where the memories of slavery were still fresh and where a peculiar, almost obsessive, devotion to 'Englishness' created a society that was often more British than Britain itself. Harry Pearson looks too at the society Constantine came to in England, which he would embrace as much as it embraced him: the narrow working-class world of the industrial North during a time of grave economic depression. Connie reveals how a flamboyant showman from the West Indies actually dovetailed rather well in a place where local music-hall stars such as George Formby, Frank Randle and Gracie Fields were feted as heroes, and how Lancashire League cricket fitted into this world of popular entertainment. Connie tells an uplifting story about sport and prejudice, genius and human decency, and the unlikely cultural exchange between two very different places - the tropical island of Trinidad and the cloth-manufacturing towns of northern England - which shared the common language of cricket.

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.

The New Zealand Cricket Almanack is the cricket lover's bible and is regarded worldwide as one of the finest books of its kind. The 73rd edition contains all the details of another full year of cricket at all levels. As usual, there is a detailed records section and a fascinating collection of the season's happenings.

David Mitchell's connection with cricket began when his grandad took him to Bradford in 1961 to watch Yorkshire play the Australians. It was the start of a lifelong passion for the game. Many hours were devoted to helping in the scorebox, playing Owzthat and listening to Test Match Special. `From Snicket to Wicket' is a personal, nostalgic and whimsical view of a game once played by white-clad players with a red ball. Now it is the opposite.

The mysterious obituary of a woman cricketer in Auckland. A young Australian killer under siege by the police. Sherlock Holmes's extraordinary day at the Oval. These and other stories (eleven of them plus a sub) provide more twists and turns than a thrilling test match. Bob Cattell's second collection of short stories once again takes the reader on a world tour. Linked by the theme of cricket, each tale is shot through with wit, humour and drama.

There have been innumerable biographies of cricketers. Peter Oborne's outstanding biography of Basil D'Oliveira is something else. It brings together sport, politics and race. It is the story of how a black South African defied incredible odds and came to play cricket for England, of how a single man escaped from apartheid and came to fulfil his prodigious sporting potential. It is a story of the conquest of racial prejudice, both in South Africa and in the heart of the English sporting establishment. The story comes to its climax in the so-called D'Oliveira Affair of 1968, when John Vorster, the South African Prime Minister, banned the touring MCC side because of the inclusion of a black man. This episode marked the start of the twenty-year sporting isolation of South Africa that ended only with the collapse of apartheid itself.

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."

'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.

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.

Combining reportage, anecdote, biography, history, and personal recollection, "A Last English Summer" is an honest and passionate reflection on cricket's past, present, and future. In 2009 the county system looked directionless and obsolete; more than ever, the players blessed with central contracts seemed separate from, rather than a part of, the domestic game. The home Ashes series was for the first time only available on cable TV and, of course, the juggernaut of Twenty20 threatened to flatten all but the Test form of the game, suggesting it may soon eclipse even that as well. Duncan Hamilton has preserved this seminal, convulsing season, which in years to come may be seen as a turning point in the history of cricket. In the process he embarks on a journey--often a deeply personal one--through the history and spirit of the game.

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.