In this 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. A must have for cricket enthusiasts everywhere.
Five Days in White Flannels is a quizzical tribute to Test cricket, the holy grail of achievement on the cricket field. It is also a nostalgic journey that venerates the five-day duel between the bat and the ball partaken by men clad in cream clothing on an idyllic cricket ground, and is a far cry from the environs of other forms of cricket that now-a-days deliver instant gratification. This is a comprehensive trivia book that tickles the brain of the reader with numerous fascinating and intriguing factoids of Test cricket. The book takes the reader partly through some narratives, each of which is tagged with a trivial question and then, to add variety, the narratives are interspersed with fair share of regular trivial queries and few cryptic questions. In the pages of this book, you will find out: The name of the cricketer who was referred to as Test crickets village batsman What a Platinum Duck is The name of the cricketer inflicted by Klippel-Feil syndrome What a Water-drip effect in cricket is About the replica of the cricket ground that billionaire Paul Getty built on his estate About the association of Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara & Alexei Kosygin with cricket
Fred Trueman was so much more than a cricketing legend. ‘The greatest living Yorkshireman’ according to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, he couldn’t help excelling at everything he did, whether it was as a hostile fast bowler for Yorkshire and England, and the first man to take 300 Test wickets in a career, or as a fearlessly outspoken radio summariser for Test Match Special. He was famous for regularly spluttering that, ‘I don’t know what’s going off out there,’ as well as for the amount of swearing he managed to incorporate into everyday speech. Beloved of cricket crowds, who filled grounds to witness his belligerent way of playing the game, and nothing but trouble to the cricket authorities, ‘Fiery Fred’ was the epitome of a full-blooded Englishman. But as Chris Waters reveals in this first full biography, behind the charismatic, exuberant mask lay a far less self-assured man – terrified even that his new dog wouldn’t like him – and whose bucolic version of his upbringing bore no relation to the gritty and impoverished South Yorkshire mining community where he actually grew up. Drawing on dozens of new interviews with his Yorkshire colleagues, family and friends, this life of Fred Trueman will surprise and even shock, but also confirm the status of an English folk hero.
It's the start of the 21st century. And a single bullet will change two lives. Raymond is a shy young man. He wishes he'd gone to Uni. But his father wants him in the family business. And his father is a gangster and a killer. Barry wants to be a poet. But he's also - in his own words - a user of the mental health services. And his two best friends are the late John Lennon and the even later Erwin Rommel, Hitler's one-time military boss. In a Yorkshire bus station a shot rings out. It's the shot that brings Raymond and Barry together - and sets off a sequence of violent events that ends in terrible murder and even more terrible poetry.
Packed with cricket's greatest stories, from both on and off the field, famous quips, insults, pranks, mishaps, incredible facts and outrageous incidents - perfect for the cricket nut in your home.
A bumper collection of the funniest anecdotes, jokes and stories from cricket's best-loved personalities. Cricket is a funny old game -- even when rain stops play! Now you can read not only the most popular stories by five of the game's all-time great characters -- Richie Benaud, Dickie Bird, Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston and Fred Trueman - but also the humour and insights of modern players including Michael Atherton, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough, Kevin Pietersen and Shane Warne. Crammed full of dozens of hilarious anecdotes about legendary Test cricketers such as Ian Botham, Geoffrey Boycott, Denis Compton, Michael Holding and Merv Hughes -- plus broadcasting gaffes, sledging, short-sighted umpires and the first male streaker at Lord's!
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.
