A Revealing, In-Depth Account Of The Nexus Between The World S Top Cricketers And Bookmakers. On 17 March 2007, The Much-Fancied Pakistan Team Crashed Out Of The Cricket World Cup After A Surprise Defeat To Minnows Ireland. Even As Disappointed Fans Reacted With Anger And Dismay, Rumour Mills Began Working Overtime, Insinuating The Involvement Of Bookmakers In The Unexpected Result, And Hinting At Match-Fixing. Speculation Reached A Fever Pitch When, The Day After, Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer Was Found Murdered In His Hotel Room. Sources Alleged That The Hand Of The Subcontinental Betting Mafia Was Behind The Attack On Woolmer, And Pointed To The Billions Of Dollars That May Be At Stake When A Match Is Thrown . This Recent Episode Is Only The Latest In A String Of Incidents Involving The World S Top Cricketers. In Recent Years, The Indian Subcontinent Has Emerged As Perhaps The Most Lucrative Arena In Which World Cricket Is Played, Not Least Because Of The Enormous Sums Wagered On The Outcome Of Every Match. Fired By A Chance Encounter With A Bookie In The Caribbean, Top Indian Cricket Writer Pradeep Magazine Set Himself The Task Of Finding Out Exactly How The Shadowy World Of Betting And Match-Fixing Works. He Interviewed Players, Journalists, Cricketing Officials, And Even Posed As An Informer For A Bookmaker For A While. What Emerged In The Course Of His Inquiry Was A Story Of Divided Loyalties And Carefully Camouflaged Half-Truths, Of Players Who Actively Participated In Match-Fixing And Others Who Colluded With Them. He Found That The Money Trail Snakes Its Way Into Every Part Of The Game In The Subcontinent, And Thence To The World. This New And Revised Edition Of This Best-Selling Book Brings The Shocking Story Of Betting Scams And Match-Fixing In International Cricket Up To The Present, And Indicates How Strong The Bookie Cricketer Ties May Be Even Today.

One day, a little cricket is born and meets a big cricket who chirps his welcome. But the little cricket cannot make a sound. The cricket meets many insects, but it isn't until he meets a beautiful female cricket that he can finally chirp "hello!" Excerpt: Hello! whispered a praying mantis, scraping its huge front legs together. The little cricket wanted to answer, so he rubbed his wings together. But nothing happened. Not a sound.

Hardly a week goes by without Dickie Bird visiting a county or Test match arena where he can keep up to date with all that is happening in the cricket world, while at the same time taking the opportunity to reflect, in the company of old friends and acquaintances, on his own colourful contribution to the sport that lasted for over half a century. Dickie remains the most famous umpire of them all and is still highly respected throughout the world. A lovable eccentric with a joyful sense of fun, he decided, as he approached his eightieth birthday, to recall the highlights of his life in cricket, while also providing an illuminating insight into what he has been up to since his retirement.

'A wonderful memoir . . . richly insightful, and deeply moving' - Ramachandra Guha Eminent journalist Pradeep Magazine's memoir is a story of lived, real experiences, of joy, sorrow, fear, loss and hope, and about how an uprooted identity shapes one's attitude towards society and the nation. From the Kashmir of the 1950s to terror-stricken Punjab, from the Mandir-Masjid divide and the impact of Mandal politics to the tragic consequences of the Kashmir situation-Magazine paints a fascinating portrait of modern India. At the core of the book are accounts of some of the most epochal events in India's cricketing history, woven around personal encounters with several well-known cricketers. The author lays bare the vicious machinations that are a staple diet of sports governance and reveals hitherto unknown facts about the frictions and ego clashes that are inevitable in a game that dominates India's sporting discourse. Whether it is cricket that you're keen on, or India's troubled history, Not Just Cricket is a must-read.

After Chester lands, in the Times Square subway station, he makes himself comfortable in a nearby newsstand. There, he has the good fortune to make three new friends: Mario, a little boy whose parents run the falling newsstand, Tucker, a fast-talking Broadway mouse, and Tucker's sidekick, Harry the Cat. The escapades of these four friends in bustling New York City makes for lively listening and humorous entertainment. And somehow, they manage to bring a taste of success to the nearly bankrupt newsstand. Join Chester Cricket and his friends in this classic children's book by George Selden, with illustrations by Garth Williams. The Cricket in Times Square is a 1961 Newbery Honor Book.

Cricket is a strange game. It is a team sport that is almost entirely dependent on individual performance. Its combination of time, opportunity and the constant threat of disaster can drive its participants to despair. To survive a single delivery propelled at almost 100 miles an hour takes the body and brain to the edges of their capabilities, yet its abiding image is of the gentle village green, and the glorious absurdities of the amateur game. In The Meaning of Cricket, Jon Hotten attempts to understand this fascinating, frustrating and complex sport. Blending legendary players, from Vivian Richards to Mark Ramprakash, Kevin Pietersen to Ricky Ponting, with his own cricketing story, he explores the funny, moving and melancholic impact the game can have on an individual life.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Outrageous, audacious, jaw-dropping' SUNDAY TIMES 'An essential read' DAILY MAIL 'Utterly captivating' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Hugely entertaining' GUARDIAN The fascinating life story of professional cricketer Kevin Pietersen, MBE, from his childhood in South Africa to his experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket. Kevin was dropped from the England squad in February 2014, seemingly calling time on an international career that began nearly ten years earlier. The decision puzzled many observers - although the England team had failed miserably in the Ashes tour of 2013-14, Kevin was the tourists' leading run scorer across the series, and he remains the country's highest run scorer of all time across all formats of the game. Kevin reveals all in his autobiography, telling the stories behind the many other highs and lows of his incredible career. Giving readers the full story of his life, from his childhood in South Africa to his experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket, KP is an autobiography that entertains and fascinates readers in equal measure.

Whether you’re a weekend cricketer or aspiring armchair expert, Cricket For Dummies helps you make sense of this fascinating sport. Not just a jargon busting guide to cricket’s laws, techniques and tactics, it also contains advice on kitting yourself out and provides lessons on playing the game and improving your batting, bowling and fielding skills. For the budding fan, there’s a guide to the greatest players, the memorable matches, and a tour through the cricketing scene – both domestic and international – giving you the knowledge you need to fully appreciate this special game. This book has been updated for the Ashes 2009, featuring revised information on new players, the Indian premier league, Stanford 20:20 and the latest coverage of past and future competitions. Julian Knight is a BBC journalist, writer, and cricket enthusiast. He is a former youth coach and captain, and has been a club cricketer for over 20 years. Consultant Editor Gary Palmer played first class cricket for ten years with Somerset before becoming a professional coach.

A Corner of a Foreign Field seamlessly interweaves biography with history, the lives of famous or forgotten cricketers with wider processes of social change. C. K. Nayudu and Sachin Tendulkar naturally figure in this book but so, too, in unexpected ways, do B. R. Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, and M. A. Jinnah. The Indian careers of those great British cricketers, Lord Harris and D. R. Jardine, provide a window into the operations of Empire. The remarkable life of India’s first great slow bowler, Palwankar Baloo, provides an arresting new perspective on the struggle against caste discrimination. Later chapters explore the competition between Hindu and Muslim cricketers in colonial India and the destructive passions now provoked when India plays Pakistan. For this new edition, Ramachandra Guha has added a fresh introduction as well as a long new chapter, bringing the story up to date to cover, among other things, the advent of the Indian Premier League and the Indian team’s victory in the World Cup of 2011, these linked to social and economic transformations in contemporary India. A pioneering work, essential for anyone interested in either of those vast themes, cricket and India, A Corner of a Foreign Field is also a beautifully written meditation on the ramifications of sport in society at large.

A tribute to the finest writers on the game of cricket and an acknowledgement that the great days of cricket literature are behind us. There was a time when major English writers – P. G. Wodehouse, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alec Waugh – took time off to write about cricket, whereas the cricket book market today is dominated by ghosted autobiographies and statistical compendiums. The Picador Book of Cricket celebrates the best writing on the game and includes many pieces that have been out of print, or difficult to get hold of, for years. Including Neville Cardus, C. L. R. James, John Arlott, V. S. Naipaul, and C. B. Fry, this anthology is a must for any cricket follower or anyone interested in sports writing elevated to high art.