Of the global community of cricketers, the West Indians are, arguably, the most well-known and feared. This book shows how this tradition of cricketing excellence and leadership emerged, and how it contributed to the rise of West Indian nationalism and independence.

A life starting in the Depression of the 1920's through the war years (evacuation & National Service) to present day.

In 'Cricket, A Very Peculiar History' Jim Pipe uniquely explores one of the second biggest spectator sport on the planet. From the hazy bat-and-ball origins of the game to the biggest celebrity players of today, this book is a fascinating insight into the popular sport. Filled to the brim with quirky quotes, fantastic facts and surprising statistics, 'Cricket, A Very Peculiar History' is the perfect book for any fan of the game. You'll discover bizarre cricket lingo, politics and rivalries and even how to make the perfect cricket tea, along with some bizarre but classic tales, without which the game would not be the same.

'It is now thirty-five years since Geoffrey Moorhouse wrote his cricket classic The Best Loved Game, which also seems unimaginable, but only because it feels like last week. Even so, in that time the game has changed, in many respects beyond recognition, which makes the book more valuable than ever - as an elegy for a lost world.' Matthew Engel, in his new Preface Geoffrey Moorhouse spent the summer of 1978 sampling cricket at every level: from Eton v Harrow to the Lancashire League; from Cambridge undergraduates getting a lesson from Zaheer Abbas to Ian Botham excelling with bat and ball at Lord's; from a farmer's boy making an unbeaten 24 at an Oxfordshire village match to the incomparable clowning of Derek Randall at Trent Bridge. 'Surely destined to rest beside the finest works of this nature in the library of cricket.' David Frith, Wisden Cricket Monthly

In addition to being an internationally recognised pioneer of sports history, Brian Stoddart has also been a leading thinker and influence in the field. That influence has crossed several areas of history, sociology, business, politics and media aspects of sports studies, and has drawn deeply upon his own training in Asian studies. His work has been characterised by cross-disciplinary work from the outset, and has encompassed some very different geographical areas as well as crossing from academic outlets to media commentary. As a result, his influential work has appeared in many different locations, and it has been difficult for a wide variety of readers to access it fully and easily. This volume draws together, in the one place for the first time, some of his most important academic and journalistic work. Importantly, the pieces are drawn together by an intellectual/autobiographical commentary that locates each piece in a wider social and cultural framework. This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society

The Stranded Tribe is the neglected story of the Ulster Unionists who were compelled to become part of the new Catholic and Gaelic Irish Free State in 1922. It follows the lives of the Presbyterian working-class Vance family, especially the two sons, William and Jamie, in the turbulent period of Irish history between 1895 and 1923. They live and work in East Donegal where one becomes involved with a local Ulster Volunteer unit and the other becomes a local railway official. In 1914 William Vance responds to the Empires call to fight Germany and joins the Ulster Division. As a member of the 11th Inniskilling Fusiliers, he takes part in the unbelievable slaughter of the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Later, his brother joins the same regiment and is badly wounded during the Battle of Messines. Following a long recovery he takes on security work on the Donegal Railways and plays a significant part in trying to forestall guerrilla attacks by the IRA on its services. The brother of Jamies Catholic girlfriend is an IRA leader in Donegal. In the Civil War he is on the Anti-Treaty side and both he and Jamie are drawn into the conflict in West Fermanagh where the IRA invades Northern Irelands territory in an attempt to destabilise the six-county statelet. The Loyalists in the three mainly Nationalist and Catholic Ulster counties not included in the new Northern Ireland have most of their links with the UK broken and some of them suffer persecution. Death threats against Jamie Vance and his family force him to take a temporary job in Scotland. Here, he finds himself struggling against a desperate, high-level assassination plot which threatens to destroy the shaky relationship between Britain and the new Irish Free State which is struggling to rout the Irregular forces in Ireland. The book outlines the brutal struggle between the two conceptions of Ireland the nationalist Catholic and Gaelic one and the unionist pro-British and monarchical one. But it also takes some of the simplicity out of this division by showing the many variations on both sides. The great majority of the incidents in the book are based upon real events gleaned from books and newspapers of the period. Research for the book took five years as well as significant time in the area itself. The Stranded Tribe is not only about the drawing of a new boundary in Ireland between mainly Protestant and Catholic states. It is also about political, religious and community responses to a world facing unprecedented social and technological change.

To understand modern India, one must look at the business of cricket within the country. When Lalit Modi--an Indian businessman with a criminal record, a history of failed business ventures, and a reputation for audacious deal making--created a Twenty20 cricket league in India in 2008, the odds were stacked against him. International cricket was still controlled from London, where they played the long, slow game of Test cricket by the old rules. Indians had traditionally underperformed in the sport but the game remained a national passion. Adopting the highly commercial American model of sporting tournaments, and throwing scantily clad western cheerleaders into the mix, Modi gave himself three months to succeed. And succeed he did--dazzlingly--before he and his league crashed to earth amid astonishing scandal and corruption. The emergence of the IPL is a remarkable tale. Cricket is at the heart of the miracle that is modern India. As a business, it represents everything that is most dynamic and entrepreneurial about the country's economic boom, including the industrious and aspiring middle-class consumers who are driving it. The IPL also reveals, perhaps to an unprecedented degree, the corrupt, back-scratching, and nepotistic way in which India is run. A truly original work by a brilliant journalist, The Great Tamasha* makes the complexity of modern India--its aspiration and optimism straining against tradition and corruption--accessible like no other book has. *Tamasha: a Hindi world meaning "a spectacle."

Over his long career as a cricket commentator and journalist, Ralph Dellor has met some of the greatest exponents of the "summer" game. In the 1990s he conducted a series of face-to-face taped interviews with famous cricketers past and present. Nine of these extraordinary interviews have now been captured in the written word. Ralph and his fellow sports journalist, Stephen Lamb, have edited and annotated the interviews so they are put into context of time and place. Each chapter is a classic piece of cricketing history, and an insight into the legends and lore of the game.

More than any other sport, cricket highlights our peculiarities and quirks, our strengths and weaknesses – sporting or otherwise. It welcomes all-comers, no matter what their quirks or achievements. Cricketing Allsorts celebrates those oddities and records, and offers a lively portrait of the game and its players in all their glory and eccentricity. Presented in the form of 'top ten' lists and illustrated with photographs from through the ages, Cricketing Allsorts covers all aspects of the game, both on and off the field. It guides us through topics such as: - the top cricketing love affairs, featuring Keith Miller and Princess Margaret - the greatest bowing partnerships, including Wasim & Waqar, Laker & Lock and Ramadhin & Valentine - the best fictional cricketers, including Hooker Knight and Flashman - the most brutal bowling spells, as Donald roughs up Atherton and Ambrose mauls England - the game's most iconic fashion statements, such as Clive Lloyd's glasses and Gower's blue socks - the greatest dynasties, including the Cowdreys and the Pollocks - the most memorable sixes, featuring Dhoni, Sobers and Albert Trott - the most unlikely cricket fans, such as Barack Obama, Roger Federer and the Taliban. An engaging, witty and affectionate look at all things cricket, Cricketing Allsorts is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to know anything and everything about the game, and the perfect gift for any cricket fan.