Showing titles in Cricket

A startling and powerful journey to the very core of India's illegal bookmaking industry that exposes the scale of corruption and the match-fixing that now runs rife throughout world cricket. For several years Ed Hawkins made friends with India's illegal bookmakers - men who boast turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars per cricket match - as well as the corruption officers of the International Cricket Council who are trying to shut them down. It's a shady world and rumours abound. But then Hawkins receives a message that changes everything and he decides it is time to expose the truth behind match-fixing.

The Ashes series of 1954–55 marked a watershed moment in the history of English cricket. Under the leadership of Len Hutton, the national team’s first professional captain, one of the greatest group of players ever to represent England won an Ashes series in Australia for the first time in more than 20 years. It is a feat that has been repeated only four times in more than 70 years since. But Hutton’s men had to overcome the additional obstacle of losing heavily in the first Test – only one England team has managed to win an overseas Ashes series after such a monumental setback.

Aged just 21, he played a key role in England's historic 2010 Ashes win over their fiercest rivals - their first victory down under since the 1980s - and went on to be part of three Ashes winning sides. But there was a darker side to his career. In 2014, Finn was sent home from Australia during the calamitous 5-0 series defeat after he lost his confidence and his bowling action fell apart. He was adamant that it wouldn't be the end of his England career though; after fighting to overcome his demons and regain his place in the side, he played a key role as England regained the urn in 2015.

Phil Tufnell, cricket legend and national treasure, has populated his very own Cricket Hall of Fame with a deliciously eclectic collection of cricket legends and offbeat characters, with joyful results. From boyhood heroes to legendary teammates to fearsome opponents to idiosyncratic umpires and broadcasters, Tuffers has gathered together the most enchanting cast of cricketing figures every assembled.

In this new anecdotal book, the unstoppable Dickie Bird takes one County Cricket Club at a time and revisits each with the aid of memorabilia, statistics, books and videos. A mass of new hilarious stories flow from Dickie as he flexes his memory: he describes the cricketers, the matches and the character of these clubs. Dickie also relives his journeys as a umpire to clubs and Test match arenas overseas and recalls the humorous times that have filled his unique career.

What is being on form? How does it relate to feeling 'in the zone'? Are these states in the lap of the gods, or is there anything we can do to make their arrival more likely? In this fascinating book, former England cricket captain and psychoanalyst Mike Brearley examines many of the elements of being in and out of form across a number of different disciplines - not only in cricket and psychoanalysis but also in finance, music, philosophy, medicine, teaching, tree surgery and drama.

Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler are two of England's greatest ever cricketers. They've played together all over the world, won the Ashes, World Cups and scored seven IPL hundreds between them. But they also love cricket, and can't wait to talk about it every week.

In spring 2018, England cricket had a performance problem. The Test team hadn’t won a Test match overseas for nearly two years. Recently crushed in the Ashes, England teams were world ranked 5th, 4th and 2nd across the three formats. The England and Wales Cricket Board approached Ed Smith, asking him to bring in a whole new philosophy. Over the next three years, England’s teams won 7 out of 10 completed matches—better than England had ever performed in the board’s history. Making Decisions shares Ed’s approach to finding success.

Sixteen seasons in the sun—mostly. A cricket-mad Australian is living in England when he makes a decision that will change his life. He becomes an umpire. In this sparkling new memoir we journey from Sunday village friendlies in Kent and the county championship, to the hallowed turf of the MCG and some of the world's best female cricketers.

Sunny Days is the fascinating record of the growth of India's greatest batsman, one whose astonishing feats on the cricket field have had innumerable records rewritten and yet more difficult targets set. How did Sunil Manohar Gavaskar begin, and what were the early days like? It is not merely out of curiosity that one may ask the question; the knowledge of the shaping up of the process of greatness is essential for a true understanding of the greatness. Before we can ask the Little Master to tell us about the dizzying heights of his career, we need to know the beginning. And Sunny Days is all about it.

From English cricket's embarrassing failure at the 2015 World Cup to their heart-stopping victory four years later, Nick Hoult and Steve James vividly describe the team's dramatic journey from abject disappointment to finally lifting the trophy. Morgan's Men reveals how the team became the most aggressive limited-overs side in the world, led by their inspirational captain, Eoin Morgan, whose vision and determination to succeed captured the imagination of the nation.

Brian Johnston - aka ‘Johnners’ - the BBC’s long-time cricket commentator, is the umpire in this test of wit and general knowledge, as two teams try to score the highest number of runs under his watchful eye. In these four episodes, team captains Tim Rice and Willie Rushton are joined by Stephen Fry, Paul Merton, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Barry Cryer, Bill Tidy, Caroline Quentin, Bernard Cribbins, and Robin Bailey. But which questions will they go for? The easier ‘single’ worth just one run?

Bill Frindall, or Bearders, is well known to cricket fans from Test Match Special. Bearders took over the scoring for Test Match Special in June 1966, at the First Test against West Indies at Old Trafford. He was nicknamed the Bearded Wonder by Brian Johnston because of his encyclopedic knowledge of cricket scores and statistics.

Harold Larwood is an England cricketing legend. During the MCC’s notorious 1932–3 Ashes tour of Australia, his ‘Bodyline’ bowling left Australia’s batsmen bruised and battered, halved the batting average of the great Don Bradman – and gave England a 4–1 series victory. But the diplomatic row that followed brought Anglo-Australian relations to the brink of collapse. Larwood was used as a scapegoat by the MCC, which demanded he apologise for bowling Bodyline.

Nick Compton had it all. A literal golden boy, to many observers it would seem that he was born to be a great in the sporting arena coming as he did from an incredible sporting ancestry. HIs grandfather Sir Denis Compton played cricket for England and football for Arsenal. Honed at an elite English boarding school, with a telegenic profile perfectly suited to the modern media environment, Nick appeared to be blessed with that rare ability to be able to stride out and face down the world's quickest bowlers, to survive and thrive in the danger zone at the hands of the hurtling new ball.

John Arlott was BBC's Voice of Cricket for more than 30 summers and reported on all the key cricket matches from the 1940s to his final commentary in 1980 at Lords. The imagery and wit of an incomparable broadcaster is captured here in a unique collection of historic moments.

The Elements of Cricket is a cricket book unlike any other published before, an extraordinary, eccentric guide and charming visual representation of the game, from the weather and wood that make it possible to the achievements of its greatest and most famous players. The book is divided into the three parts that make up the fundamental elements of cricket: bat, ball and field. Their harmony produces cricket’s unique environment; their centuries’ long conflict provides its innovation, adaptability and vast psychological hinterland.

After entertaining countless radio listeners around the world for decades, who better to convey the breathless drama of a Test match cliffhanger than Henry Blofeld? Now, in Ten to Win...and the Last Man In, he has personally selected 30 matches featuring unforgettable finishes and brought them vividly to life again in his own inimitable way.

An entertaining look at one of sport's greatest rivalries - the Ashes - by former England spin bowler Graeme Swann. Graeme Swann leads us on a compelling adventure through one of world sport's most engrossing rivalries. He knows as much as anybody about the heat of England vs. Australia battles, having played in three series wins and also the whitewash defeat of 2013-14 when its intensity ended his international career.

'If you carry on like this, you'll do nothing but play football and cricket all your life.' These were the exasperated words of Mike Brearley's mother, as he once again trod mud into the family home after a long day playing outdoors. They were also an unwitting but half-accurate prediction, for Brearley would become one of the most successful sportsmen of his generation by playing cricket for Cambridge, Middlesex and then becoming one of England's finest captains. But for Brearley, cricket wasn't just a physical activity, it was also an intellectual game.