Many books have been written about cricket, cricketers, the grounds they play on and the tours that the players and supporters undertake during the winter months. Writers on the English summer game have looked at the game's history and economic development, but one vital ingredient has been ignored: the game's geography, and how it has changed from a rural, meadowland pastime into a multinational sport and multi-million pound business, based largely in urban agglomerations.
This volume fills this void, looking at the fundamental geography of cricket, especially in England where the game is played by county sides. Besides looking at socio-economic influences, the book examines the physical geography of cricket, in particular, its interrelationship with the local environment and microclimate, and looks ahead to the likely impact that global warming and altered weather patterns will have on the county game.

Cricket has changed from a rural, meadowland pastime into a multinational sport and multi-million pound business, based largely in urban agglomerations. This volume looks at the fundamental geography of cricket, especially in England where the game is played by county sides. Besides looking at socio-economic influences, this work examines the physical geography of cricket, in particular, its interrelationship with the local environment and microclimate, and looks ahead to the likely impact that global warming and altered weather patterns will have on the county game.

Jim Pleass is the last surviving member of Glamorgan's County Championship winning team of 1948, the first time the Welsh team won the highest honour in county cricket. The Cardiff-born multi-talented sportsman, who was also an exceptional footballer and offered trial games for Cardiff City as a schoolboy, built a reputation as a solid and reliable team player at a time when Glamorgan was establishing itself on the first class cricket scene after the Second World War. In stark contrast to contemporary sport which is too often dominated by money and celebrity, Jim was a hard-working professional sportsman typical of his era, who simply enjoyed the camaraderie and of the game he loved. Yet the man who was born in Cardiff in 1923 achieved something that only a handful of the five hundred or so people who have proudly worn the daffodil-sweater since the Club's formation in 1888, can claim to have also matched, winning some sixty summers after the Club's creation their first-ever County Championship title. Jim was a very lucky man, as the book explains his narrow escape from certain death when he stormed the Normandy beaches on D day in 1944. If it wasn't for the over-exuberance of a driver on another landing craft, Jim would never have graced the cricket field wearing the daffodil of Glamorgan County Cricket Club.

A bat-and-ball, a bowler, the third man: to many Americans, cricket sounds like a confused jumble of several contemporary sports. The history of cricket in Wales, however, dates back to 1783--when the first recorded match on Welsh soil took place and when the principality's culture and social history forever took a turn toward cricking nationhood. "Cricket in Wales" is a remarkable illustrated history of the sport, tracing its development from the nineteenth-century - where it provided a common bond and unifying activity for the diverse peoples who found their way to booming Welsh cities and towns - to its current favor as the game of choice at folk festivals, rural picnics, and family gatherings. In addition to recreating the conditions and aspects of the game's history that have generated such ardent fandom among the Welsh, this volume also considers the relationship between England--where cricket is the national sport--and Wales, who to this day still field a single representative team for the international circuit despite sometimes contentious relations, demonstrating how nationalist loyalties fuel the fire behind this engaging sport and the citizens who adore it.

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.

Written by Andrew Hignell, the Archivist of Glamorgan County Cricket Club and the leading authority on the history of cricket in Wales, this book recalls these Golden Years in the history of Blaina Cricket Club as well as tracing the fascinating history of cricket in this Monmouthshire valley. Drawing on the memories, photographs and personnel recollections of those directly involved with the Blaina club from the times when coal was king, through the years of the decline in the iron and tinplate industry to the modern years of mine closure and de-industrialisation, Andrew Hignell has not only produced a cricketing history of Blaina, but also a social history of the town. Cricket began in Blaina in the 1850s as the ironmasters used the game to fly the flag for their works as well as trying to harmonise industrial relations and promoting healthy lifestyles. The playing of cricket subsequently developed into a unifying force within the tight-knit valley communities and, as the first team-game to evolve in industrial Wales, it helped to bond and give immense pleasure to the people whose livelihood was dominated by the state of the iron and coal industries. There were good times and bad, yet throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Blaina cricket club remained strong and vibrant. It was a founding member of the South Wales and Monmouthshire League and the club regularly attracted large crowds, sometimes of up to 4,000.

Cardiff has always been a sporting city, producing several performers in rugby, cricket, football and many other sports. It is a city with a rich and proud sporting heritage with a long tradition of hosting national and international sporting events. This book celebrates the achievements of many of the city's sportspeople.

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.

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.

Front Foot to Front Line commemorates Welsh cricket's contribution to the Great War by chronicling the lives of 55 professional and amateur cricketers who left the friendly rivalry of the crease for the brutality and horror of the trenches, and lost their lives as servicemen on the bloody battlefields of Europe. The distinguished author and the leading authority on Welsh cricket, Andrew Hignell, traces the major themes and battles of the First World War to provide a poignant snapshot of how Wales lost a generation of young men who were united by their love of cricket and their courage to serve their country. Front Foot to Front Line not only pays tribute to the cricketers, drawn from over 35 local clubs across Wales, who lost their lives but also to those who returned home permanently affected by their experiences of warfare. The book also highlights the involvement of many characters involved at the grassroots of Welsh club cricket who served with distinction and will be of great interest to the large Welsh cricketing fraternity as well as to those with an interest in military history. The cricket clubs featured in Front Foot to Front Line include: Blaina, Barry, Brecon, Bridgend Town, Briton Ferry, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Crickhowell, Denbighshire, Ferndale, Garth, Glamorgan, Llancarfan, Llandovery College, Llandudno, Llanelli, Monmouthshire, Neath, Newport, Pontypridd, Radyr, Swansea, Usk Valley, and Ystrad Mynach.

Since its establishment in 1866 by prominent businessmen and the gentry of south Wales, the Cardiff and County Club has played a central role in the commercial, political and sporting life of Cardiff, as it developed from a burgeoning Victorian coal metropolis into the dynamic Welsh capital city of today. Led by local solicitor Henry Heard, the Club's founders had moved to Cardiff to work in the rapidly expanding town and, as the trade of the docks, businesses and shops all flourished, the men of influence, high social standing and growing wealth were looking for somewhere to gather, relax, dine and socialise in a convivial atmosphere with their friends and acquaintances. Initially located within, and then alongside, the Royal Hotel on St. Mary Street, the Club's growing popularity, and its close association with the Bute Estate, saw the members decide to construct the current Clubhouse on Westgate Street, which became one of the City's landmarks and still remains Wales' leading private members' club. Extensively researched and lavishly illustrated, Always Amongst Friends not only traces the fascinating 150-year history of the Club through a scholarly study of the social and economic history of Cardiff, but also celebrates the Cardiff and County Club's colourful characters, their mischievous humour and exudes the warmth and camaraderie so treasured by its members.

The Story of Sophia begins, like most things in nineteenth century Cardiff, from the influence of Bute Estate. Thus, this book details the beginnings of cricket at Sophia Gardens, expanding the historical commentary with brief match reports, scorecards and interviews with past and present protaganists of the Welsh county. Perhaps most pertinent is that the current redevelopment of the ground is also featured, as Glamorgan CCC prepare for an Ashes Test match in 2009, one of the highest-profile occasions in British sport. Therefore, the heritage of the arena is explored and augmented by the promise of an exciting new era for Cardiff-based sport.

The period from 1993 has been one of the most successful in the history of Glamorgan CCC, with both league and cup victories. This is the story of this wonderful period, told in the players' own words, and supported by superb photographs by Huw John. It will appeal to all Glamorgan CCC supporters.

A history of Glamorgan County Cricket Club

A second collection of over 200 black-and-white photographs with captions, charting the history of Glamorgan County Cricket Club from 1897-1997.

This book is part of the Images of Wales series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in Wales, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

Glamorgan CCC Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Dragons. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the opposing vicar who scored a hundred, the game when Glamorgan only had five fielders, or the side that were all born in Wales? How about the times when a number 11 was top scorer for the county, or when a batsman was dismissed twice in the space of a minute? Do you know who was keeping wicket when Glamorgan won the 1969 Championship? Who took a wicket with his first-ever ball? Or who was the club's tallest ever player? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Dragons fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.