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Michael Vaughan’s autobiography: Time to Declare
By Will last year, at the end of October, No Comments; be the first!
Michael Vaughan’s autobiography, Time to Declare
The Times are serialising some of it and, in what we desperately hope will be a revealing insight into one of England’s most successful captains, and not mere fodder for the shelves, he has spoken out of his troubles in forging a successful working relationship with Peter Moores.
(From March 2008)
“The team is starting to get irritated by the new management regime – being told what to do and treated like schoolkids. Peter (Moores) loves talking and having the last word.”
“I still think that the England captain should have ultimate control, but Peter wanted to be in charge from the sidelines.
“What I found is that he wanted to do everyone’s jobs for them …
“Duncan would never do that; he would trust me to get on with it.”
Should be a good read.
No Comments »When Gilchrist hated cricket
By Will last year, mid-July, 1 Comment »
The Times seem to be serialising an Adam Gilchrist book. His autobiography, True Colours, came out some time ago so I’m not sure whether this is a gap-filler on their part, or if Gilchrist has another one published. Either way, it’s an entertaining piece.
It was almost automatic. I’d come in, Flintoff would come on, he’d bowl around the wicket, I’d get out. I started to feel that I’d been fluking it in Test cricket for a few years and now reality was catching up. I wasn’t as good as my record suggested. The reputation I’d built over seven years in the Test team, I was undoing it all. I wanted to get out before I did it any more damage.
For 18 months since England, I’d been in a kind of mortal combat with my doubts, and it was showing. Those close to me saw how cranky I was, how dry and tired, how little I was enjoying it. Memories of the 2005 tour , which was such a nightmare both personally and professionally, were eating away at me slowly. In South Africa, in early 2006, when André Nel was getting me out with the exact same tactic as Flintoff, I’d got so sick of it that I’d written down four words, in an angry, passionate note to myself, that I would never have expected to say: “I hate this game.”
1 Comment »Hoggy: Welcome to My World: The Peculiar World of Matthew Hoggard
By Will last year, at the end of May, 5 Comments »
I can’t urge you enough 
Having a week off has allowed me to read some books, and Matthew Hoggard’s is one that I’m making my way through. It is like no sporting biography I’ve encountered before, which is just as well: most are excruciatingly tedious and premature. Hoggy, on the other hand, has written his with an England career behind him (or so he and we begrudgingly believe).
Like the man himself, it is unashamedly bonkers and refreshingly obscure. There are scribbles and cartoons (of his wife, Sarah, though they look as though his toddler son Ernie drew them), and whole paragraphs dedicated to his dogs. He attributes his run-up to a quirk in the layout of his garden when he was young. And he is surely the first cricketer, nay sportsman, to mention masturbation as a key aspect of surviving long tours overseas.
I can’t urge you enough to buy it
Ashes to Ashes by Marcus Berkmann
By Will last year, at the end of May, 6 Comments »
Marcus Berkmann, who wrote one of my favourite books, Rain Men, has scribbled a new one called Ashes to Ashes
In summer 2009, by far the most popular event in the cricketing calendar comes round again – the Ashes series between England and Australia. The anticipation will be intense, the hype absurd, the sense of expectation never remotely likely to be satisfied, for two good reasons. England won in 2005 by a whisker. We can’t expect anything so good again, possibly for the rest of our lives. The second reason is even more brutally realistic. For the truth is that, over the past twenty years at least, Australia have usually won very easily. We begin with hope, we end in despair. For the many of us who follow English cricket closely, it’s a strange and terrible form of biennial punishment for crimes we didn’t know we had committed. ‘Hell is other people,’ said Jean-Paul Sartre, and as so often he was completely wrong. Hell is Ricky Ponting winning the toss on a perfect batting strip on a glorious sunny day. Hell is what happened in Australia in 2007, when the home side won 5-0. Of course we look forward to 2009. But we also dread it, as we would dread exams or major surgery. We would be foolish to do otherwise.
You need to buy it immediately. There are a torrent of Ashes-related books coming out, as you’d expect, so keep your eyes peeled on Amazon
Green and bland
By Will 2 years ago, mid-October, 1 Comment »
Freddie Auld has reviewed Alastair Cook’s autobiography, and I have to agree with his thoughts:
It would be far too easy to compare Alastair Cook’s new autobiography with his batting: determined and dependable, with the odd thrill. But sadly, it isn’t even that. For determined, read drab; for dependable, “dreary”; and as for the odd thrill, er, Cook had a game of darts with Freddie and Harmy on the eve of his Test debut. And that’s about as good as it gets.
Most Cooky fans, of whom I am one myself, will be disappointed with his first, shamefully premature effort. The blurb promises a “fascinating insight” into one of the most “exciting and brightest players to burst on to the cricketing scene in recent years”. So I was hoping for juicy anecdotes about the Essex dressing room, the latter years of Duncan Fletcher’s reign, the disastrous Ashes campaign, the jelly bean files, and Michael Vaughan’s retirement. But no.
It’s no slight against Cook that I/we didn’t particularly engage with his book. He is simply too young. Roger Moore, who is about 102, has only just released his. For all Cook’s promise – and that’s what it remains, frankly – he hasn’t lived enough to occupy an entire book yet. In 10 years, I expect and hope the sequel to do him and his career justice.
1 Comment »Playfair Cricket Annual 2008
By Will 2 years ago, mid-March, 4 Comments »
Monty Panesar is this year’s victim on the front cover of the Playfair Cricket Annual. It’s always interesting to see who is chosen and, more often than not, it’s a bit of a poisoned chalice. It’s out on April 3 and available to pre-order for a mere £4.89
Complete set of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanacks for auction
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of February, No Comments; be the first!
A “fine collection” of all 144 copies of The Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack will go under the Bonhams hammer on Wednesday in Chester. Don’t even think about it unless you have £100,000 burning a whole in your pocket (which is roughly what Shivnarine Chanderpaul was bought for recently).
It is an extraordinary sum of money, even for what is admittedly quite a rare collection. Worth keeping an eye on Bonhams’ listings for cricket memorabilia – for interest more than anything.
No Comments »Sale to commence at 11:00
The deadline for submission of items to this sale has now passed. We are currently consigning items for our next sale on June 4th. Please contact 01244 313 936 if you have any items you wish to be valued.A fine collection of all 144 volumes issued from 1864 to 2007 along with 2 index issues, one covering the years 1864 to 1943 and the other 1864 to 1984, the entire set handsomely bound in uniform brown half morocco by Bayntun-Riviere of Bath, photographic plates in volumes 1889 and 1891-1915, some volumes with original wrappers bound in, 8vo, J. Wisden.
The vendor collected this set over the last 20 years and bought sufficient morocco goatskins and end papers to ensure that the set could be uniformly bound through to 2030, the residue of these are included in the lot for sale.
Kevin Pietersen graces front cover of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack
By Will 2 years ago, mid-February, 8 Comments »
Scyld Berry, editing this year’s Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack in place of Matthew Engel, has chosen Kevin Pietersen for the front cover:
It’s released on April 7 and you can pre-order it now
An alternative cover for Fletcher’s autobiography
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, 1 Comment »
Another cheeky piece of photoshopping from Mike who has created an alternative front cover for Duncan Fletcher’s autobiography, Behind the Shades.
Nestled between the Home Office and a children’s classic
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, 1 Comment »
What company does Duncan Fletcher keep? Well it’s certainly not with Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott as we’ve found out today. But here’s his book, on Amazon’s bestsellers nestled between a weighty-looking tome of Life in the UK (hmm) and There was an old lady who swallowed a fly. It’s 127th at the moment and could well be in the top 10 if the Daily Mail continues to serialise it. My copy’s about to land on my desk too, which is thoroughly exciting.
Notes from the pavilion for October 27th
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, 2 Comments »
- Andrew Flintoff ‘drink disgrace’ on tour – Fletcher’s book is going to be fascinating reading for sure…
- Murali is last hope for Wallaby wannabe – A terrific piece – read it
- Rudolph considers England future – Another South African threatens to split…
- Warne says the county game is a source of England strength -
Supercat: Clive Lloyd’s biography
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of October, No Comments; be the first!
Supercat: the authorised biography of Clive Lloyd
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I remember bumping into Simon Lister, friend of the blog and all-round good egg, at Lord’s the summer before last. He told me he was writing Clive Lloyd’s biography…and it’s finally rolled off the printers (buy
Supercat is its appropriate title and, although the old mantra rings loud in my ears, I do love the front cover. Here’s a short synopsis:
The book draws on candid and intimate conversations with Clive Lloyd, as well as interviews with many of the great names of West Indian and world cricket.
Clive talks about growing up in the Caribbean, about slavery and race, about coming to England to play for Lancashire, about captaincy, about the changes he has witnessed in the game and about the present state of West Indian cricket. He has much to say, and it is always thoughtful and authoritative.
Yours for a tenner.
No Comments »Fatty Batter: How Cricket Saved My Life (Then Ruined It)
By Will 3 years ago, mid-May, 4 Comments »
“Never judge a book by its cover,” my Dad (and probably most others in the world) used to say. Maybe due to the rebel in me, or youthful naivety, I thought he was speaking in tongues again. Yes yes, the contents are what’s most important, but I’ve always maintained that if the cover is good, the insides must be even better. That’s right: I am that stupid. Pillock though I am, my methods haven’t yet let me down.
This book isn’t one of them, but it might as well be. I’ve seen it lying on my boss’s desk and it’s only a matter of time before I wade through it. And Patrick’s reviewed it for the paper, in which he says:
THERE IS SOMETHING almost autistic about cricket lovers. Not those who can actually play. Nor the Barmy Army types, whose main purpose at a match, it appears, is to tell fellow spectators in a beer-soaked caterwaul that everywhere they go, people want to know who they are and so on.
The most touching scenes are of Simkins the child, playing cricket in his father’s sweet-shop in Brighton, spending his holidays at the county ground in Hove trying to get autographs or constructing an entire season’s county championship under his bed with a dice game. It brought back memories of another rather sad child who devised a complicated set of rules based on my calculator’s random number generator so that I could play cricket during maths lessons.
Ah, Howzat. Every cricket fan has been there, though I found history the best lesson in which to steal the strike. What amazed me was how devastating Wacar Yewniss (for that is how my dyslexic friend spelled his name) was. Even in fantasy land, he sent down toe-crushers. I think my worst was 2 all out. And did anyone else play table football with a 10p piece? (also available in rugby and hockey editions, depending on your inventiveness in creating goalposts with your hands). Halcyon days.
4 Comments »The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cricket
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of April, 3 Comments »
Yes, it’s true. It exists! It’s about proper beer and proper cricket and it’s all in one pint-sized hardback piece of goodness.
3 Comments »There are many books about cricket and many on beer, but this is the first book to bring the two subjects together. Leading beer writer and cricket enthusiast Roger Protz has visited the major grounds of all the First Class counties to prepare in-depth profiles of them – their history, museums, memorabilia and notable records. Many of the museums, including Lord’s, Trent Bridge, Taunton and Old Trafford help trace the history of the game with fascinating collections of ancient bats, balls, blazers, books, caps and trophies. “The Beer Lover’s Guide to Cricket” also details some of the great cricket victories, including Jim Laker’s 19 wickets in a Test; Botham’s remarkable feat at Headingley in snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against the Australians and the pulsating 2005 Ashes series. The pleasure of each visit is rounded off with a detailed description of the best pubs in the vicinities of the grounds and the real ales they sell. The book also traces the fascinating story of the birth of the modern game at the Broadhalfpenny ground in Hampshire opposite a pub, the Bat & Ball, and shows how the tradition of good beer and cricket is kept alive at many grounds.
Wasted? – Paul Smith’s autobiography
By Will 3 years ago, at the end of April, 8 Comments »
Update: review of Paul Smith’s Wasted? at Cricinfo.
One of my early memories of cricket is watching Paul Smith tear in to bowl off an inordinately long run-up, arms flaying around, long hair, “flinging” down his medium pacers. He was nothing special but the rebel in me respected his unconformity. He was rock’n'roll, a bit crazy, and just the type of cricketer an 11-year-old tried wished he could be. And it turns out he’s written a book.
It could be very, very dull; he fell into drugs, lost his wife and children and so forth, so it might be one of those sickly autobiographies in which he’s found God, or peace within himself, or finds knitting a good way to stave the cravings. If and when I get a copy, I’ll let you know what it reveals – or buy your own from Amazon, and help pay for the exploding costs of running this site…
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