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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
Forthcoming books
By Will 2 years ago, at the end of October, No Comments; be the first!
With the nights drawing in, and temperatures beginning to plummet for us in the northern hemisphere, there’s no better time than to warm your cockles with a book or two. Christmas is approaching, and that can mean only one thing: anodyne autobiographies littering our shelves and stockings. But there’s always the occasional gem, never more so when there’s an Ashes series on the horizon. So here are the upcoming cricket books
The Worst of Cricket 2 (Worst of Sport) (Worst of Sport)
Something a bit different: The Ascent of Mount Hum: A Croatian Cricketing Odyssey
Bradman’s Invincibles: The Story of the 1948 Ashes Series
The Book of Ashes Anecdotes
And this is top of my list: 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.
Glenn McGrath’s autobiography (surely not his first?) is out next year, too: Line and Strength
If you’ve read any recently, or know of some coming up, leave a comment.
No Comments »Coming Back to Me: The Autobiography of Marcus Trescothick
By Will 2 years ago, mid-August, 8 Comments »
One of the most anticipated autobiographies of the year, that of Marcus Trescothick, is released on September 1. Pre-order it now
Extracts are being serialised in the News of the World:
8 Comments »“Exhausted, emotionally vulnerable, isolated and far from home, I was ready for the taking,” he said. “For a moment I was convinced I was dying. I knew I was in serious trouble…I had to get help.”
Trescothick, who was standing in as captain in place of Michael Vaughan at the time, immediately flew home to join wife Hayley and daughter Ellie, but even that couldn’t stop his downward spiral. “Out of the blue, in front of Ellie and Hayley, I felt a massive surge of anxiety overwhelm me like a huge wave. It sucked the breath clean out of my lungs. The next 48 hours were hell.
“I started thinking seriously about doing myself harm. I knew I didn’t want to carry on living like this.”
When the problems resurfaced in Australia, Trescothick says he knew that was the end of his international career. “It was as though someone flicked a switch. I knew it was over. The tears welled up as I started to walk back to the pavilion.
“I knew I no longer had any say in the matter. The illness had come back. The thought of what I was doing hit me like a kick in the guts. I would probably never again experience the great highs, hard work, and joy of playing for England.”
Away from the international scene Trescothick has been able to rebuild his life and has enjoyed a productive season for Somerset. He was the first batsman to passed 1000 Championship runs and in the last round of matches hit a season-best 158 against Surrey.
Richard and Judy, the librarians of Britain
By Will 3 years ago, at the start of August, 12 Comments »
That’s it. I’ve had enough of bookshops. I used to enjoy browsing through them a few years ago, looking up new authors as well as “staple diet” writers who I’ve enjoyed. But the shopping experience in today’s bookshops is overwhelmingly tacky and, well, just overwhelming. Most stores seem to have these tables, with titles piled high, underneath a sign: “our favourites this month” and inevitably there are at least two copies of Paolo Coelho’s wistful musings, and other authors (all of whom seem to share the title of “genius”…) writing about abused Russian alcoholics and Ukranian tractors.
I couldn’t see anything new or particularly exciting, so meandered over to fiction – not my favourite place. And there, emblazoned in yellow and pink and other sickly garish colours, was a stand suggesting five or six books as recommended by Richard and Judy. Good God alive.
Has society plummeted to such literary-ignorant depths that we have to rely on an overpaid, smug TV couple as our national librarians? I only looked at one title – it had a blue cover and, yes, I liked the picture – and, rather inevitably, it was all about a widower and how he’s coping. No surprise there then. I’m not here to judge the quality or writing of the books’ authors – I’m sure they’re very good books – but why the hell are we relying on two celebrities to help us choose what to read? One man’s favourite is another man’s draught excluder.
I very nearly ventured over to the sports section to read a cricket book (spit). Fortunately I found something, after an hour trying to avoid all the arrows and signs and posters demanding I buy THIS book and THAT one: London Pub Reviews by Paul Ewen, a New Zealander who’s written of his experiences and the people he’s come across in some of the capital’s pubs. Perhaps an odd choice for a trip to India, where I’m off to tomorrow, but at least it’s not on Dickhead and Booby’s list…
12 Comments »Books, annuals, programmes for sale
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of April, 9 Comments »
Alastair McLellen, who graciously mentioned the CoU in this year’s 2006 Almanack, has a veritable feast of cricket books, souvenirs, photos and all sorts for sale. There’s masses to be seen…so click here to get the full list, and click here to email him and make an offer on any of them.
Signed books
My Autobiography – Allan Lamb, Colins Willow, 1996 – Signed by Allan Lamb
Herbert Sutcliffe – Alan Hill, Simon & Schuster, 1991 (Hdbk) – Signed by the author
Summer of Swing – Khadim Hussain Baloch (Pbk) – Signed by Salim Malik
Continued below…
9 Comments »Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2006
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of April, No Comments; be the first!
Talking of books, the season really must be upon us as the 2006 Almanack is released on April 12!. Hurrah.
Click here to get it from Amazon
No Comments »Playfair Cricket Annual 2006
By Will 4 years ago, at the start of April, No Comments; be the first!
This year’s Playfair, edited by Bill Frindall, was released today. £3.99 from Amazon – can’t be bad.
Talking of such matters, I’m soon to review his autobiography, Beaders, which goes on general release on June 1. You can preorder it now though.
No Comments »What did you get for Christmas?
By Will 5 years ago, at the end of December, 7 Comments »
Predictable, but fun. What did you get for Christmas? I don’t tend to get a lot of cricket stuff these days – but did get A Century of Cricket Jokes which is a lot of laughs. I’ll stick some up here when I get back to London.
7 Comments »Vaughan and Flintoff top best-sellers
By Will 5 years ago, at the end of October, 16 Comments »
“Ask any taxi driver what books they have read, and one of them will be a sporting biography and the other The Da Vinci Code,” so says someone on the BBC news just now. In it, the Beeb report on Andrew Flintoff’s and Michael Vaughan’s biographies, both of which are now topping the best-sellers in a lot of bookshops.
An interesting phenomenon, the sporting biography
Ashes Diary
By Will 5 years ago, at the end of September, 6 Comments »
Ashes Diary, an account of England winning back the urn, is released this Thursday. Ought to be very interesting reading. Only costs a tenner – not too bad.
6 Comments »Zimmer Men: Marcus Berkmann
By Will 5 years ago, at the start of July, 2 Comments »
Marcus Berkmann – 9 years ago – wrote what I found to be the funniest cricket book I’d ever read, “Rain Men.” Just been told by my mate that he’s got another one out, entitled Zimmer Men!
Synopsis
Ten years after his classic Rain Men – ‘cricket’s answer to Fever Pitch,’ said the Daily Telegraph – Marcus Berkmann returns to the strange and wondrous world of village cricket, where players sledge their teammates, umpires struggle to count up to six, the bails aren’t on straight and the team that field after a hefty tea invariably loses. This time he’s on the trail of the Ageing Cricketer, having suddenly realised that he is one himself and playing in a team with ten others every weekend. In their minds they run around the field as fast as ever; it’s only their legs that let them down. Zimmer Men asks all the important questions of middle-aged cricketers. Why is that boundary rope suddenly so far away? Are you doomed to getting worse as a cricketer, or could you get better? How many pairs of trousers will your girth destroy in one summer? Chronicling the 2004 season, with its many humiliating defeats and random injuries, this coruscating funny new book laughs in the face of middle age, and starts seriously thinking about buying a motorbike.
Sounds good…
2 Comments »New book by Jonathan Agnew
By Will 5 years ago, mid-June, 2 Comments »
Before realising I’d left my wallet in the car, I saw this book in a shop this morning by Jonathan Agnew. Looks quite interesting, with lots of useless-but-intruiging trivia on the great game. On the back cover were three quotations all of which are in my quotes-database (on the right of this site on the main page). So clearly, clearly, Aggers is reading this site and using all my material 
Simon Hughes’ “Morning Everyone”
By Will 5 years ago, mid-June, 2 Comments »
With a title no doubt influenced by his Channel 4 colleague, Mr Benaud, Simon Hughes “The Analyst’s” new book (out in October) has a finalised front cover. Very much looking forward to reading it after his first two were so excellent.
UPDATE 21 October 2005. The book is now available at Amazon, priced £10.19. For more cricket books, see this tag.
2 Comments »W.G.Grace’s Wisdens up for grabs
By Will 5 years ago, at the start of May, No Comments; be the first!
William Gilbert Grace’s Wisden almanacks are going on sale – for £150,000 – from the first edition, 1864, to the year of his death in 1915
No Comments »Vast personal Cricket memorabilia auction
By Will 5 years ago, mid-April, 3 Comments »
On the train yesterday, I happened to read a peice by a Sotherby’s expert on some cricket memorabilia coming up for auction on Thursday at Christie’s. It’s part, or all, of the collection of the late Desmond Eager – once captain of Hampshire. The only details I can find of Eager are in a December 2000 edition of The Hampshire Cricket Society newsletter, and his name is only mentioned in passing.
By all accounts, he was a cricket-nut and is therefore welcomed warmly into cricket blogging circles, even though he’s now no longer with us. I’ve found the listings of all the sales at Christies which can be found here. There are some gems:
A Complete List of All the Grand Matches of Cricket that have been played in the Years 1804 & 1805 … by Stanhope and Graham – estimate £17,000-22,0000. The only recorded copy in existence-
WILLIAM EPPS
Cricket. A Collection of All the Grand Matches of Cricket played in England within Twenty Years, viz. from 1771 to 1791, never before published – This is absolutely fascinating – published way back in 1799, this scorecard (shown below) even uses Old English (replacing certain instances of the letter S with F, hence Hampfhire)
There are over 200 items being sold, and not just in “fantasy money” price ranges, so if you can spare time on Thursday and are in London, why not pop along? Never been to an auction myself, so I don’t know if you can just turn up, but I don’t see why not.
The article mentions one of the books, Le Cricket pour les Sportsmen Français which “represents a valiant but ultimately doomed attempt to translate the laws of the game into French.” Examples:
Duck = Oeuf de canard (duck’s egg)
Googlie = Bowling haut et lent (bowling high and slow)
LBW = Jambe-devant-guichet (leg in front of ticket office)
Another book makes mention of the oddities of cricket, and the teams to have played it:
Handsome v Uglies
Women with bats v Men with Broomsticks playing left hand
Heavy with Sin v Light with Honesty
What a collection, and thank God I’ve found it. This is as close as I, or even most people reading this, will come to looking at the documents and books unless people like the MCC or museums are willing to cough up for them. I really hope so.
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