Cricket Sport

Mike Brearley is one of the most successful cricket captains of all time, and in 1981 he captained the England team to the momentous Ashes series victory against Australia. In The Art of Captaincy, his treatise on leadership and motivation, he draws directly on his experience of man-managing a team, which included a pugnacious Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott, to explain what it takes to be a leader on and off the field.

Record-breaking England cricketer, wartime RAF hero, Tottenham Hotspur footballer, and husband to five wives... this is the captivating life of one of England's most remarkable yet often overlooked cricketing heroes. A history of cricket victories, explosive controversies, wartime glory and a life lived to the fullest, this compelling biography reveals the story of one of cricketing’s greatest characters.

Ben Stokes is not cast in the same mould as the vast majority of English cricketers. Fiery, combative, gladiatorial - he plays the game hard and with great gusto. He is an all-rounder who bats, bowls and fields at full throttle. Some opponents feel threatened by his physical stature and aggressive brand of cricket. Stokes simply doesn't back down, smashing the next ball for six, bowling his 90 mph 'chin music' or taking a breathtakingly full-stretch catch at backward point.

Hallo—I'm Mark Wood. As an England and Durham cricketer who was born, raised and refined in Ashington, Northumberland, my life has been quite unique. Over the course of my career so far, I've won an Ashes and a World Cup in an international career that at the time of writing is going on seven years and counting. Being a fast bowler like myself is up there with the toughest of all sporting pursuits, like being Tyson Fury's punchbag or working behind the bar during the darts at Ally Pally. Being a cricketer? There's nothing like it.

Green grass, blue skies, white flannels and the gentle thwack of leather on willow: the quintessential image of Englishness that heralds the start of the cricket season. A so-called gentleman's game developed with the principle of fair play at its hearts. All well and true - unless you're a person of colour living in Britain today. Azeem Rafiq, the former Yorkshire cricketer and England youth captain, learnt this the hard way.

In this book, Suresh Raina takes us through the challenges he faced as a young cricketer. He was bullied in school and at cricket camps, but he always punched above his weight, overcoming every adversity life threw at him and never giving up. This is the story of the lessons he learnt and the friendships he built.

Every captain would love Brearley's degree in people, as well as a hardhitting all-rounder like Botham. But theirs was a barely recognisable game from the one we play on often dishevelled grounds up and down the country with ragtag teams of ageing, deluded or hungover friends and acquaintances. Now, Charlie Campbell offers us a New Testament to Brearley’s Old Testament, as he guides us through the realities of captaining an amateur team.

Suresh Menon, easily one of India's best cricketwriters, relives the roller-coaster that was the 2011 World Cup, taking us through the highlights, the disappointments and doubts as well as the triumphs. From Virender Sehwag's boundary off the first ball of the World Cup to Dhoni's final six to the transformation of Yuvraj Singh, it's all here. A running commentary as well as a historical document of one of India's sporting epics.

Old friends and Test Match Special colleagues, Henry Blofeld and Peter Baxter had many outrageous tales of life in and around the radio cricket commentary boxes of the world. So in 2012, the two embarked on a tour that saw them take their hilarious stories onto the stage in a two-man show. They soon found themselves treading the boards in the West End, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and travelling as far afield as Australia.

That William Brockwell, who had touched the upper reaches of cricketing greatness and was talented in other ways, slipped badly is, alas, a tragic fact of history; and cruelly illustrative of the knife edge upon which professional cricketers of the "gold age" of English cricket lived.

Blowers will delight his many fans with this pick of the very best of his stories. In "My dear old thing!" cricket fans everywhere will recognise Henry Blofeld's rich, plummy voice and sharp wit from BBC's Test Match Special. Now enjoy the very best of Blowers in this blockbusting collection, including jokes, anecdotes, and stories from a life immersed in cricket.

A compelation of cricketing moments including the letter from William H Tit, the streakers commentaries, the chocolate cake mouthfuls, Johnners numerous scoring mix ups, the resemblance between Fred Truemand and a turnip, cricket for the blind, Jim'll Fix it voiceover, Ned Sherrin interviewing Johnners on his last Test Match, the Parrot impersonation, John Cleese and John Major admitting he stopped cabinet meetings to get the test match results.

On the 9th August 2013 the Australian cricket team will step onto the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground for a history making Ashes Test - the first ever on Durham soil. However there is a already a solid historical link between Australia and the county and nowhere is this more obvious than in ten matches arranged between Australia and a variety of sides in Sunderland between 1878 and 1977.

The world of cricket is under threat. In the shadows, a secret conspiracy is at work. Their goal? To give the rich, the powerful and the well-connected total control of the game. One young boy stands in their way. Honest, brave and determined, Frank Meadows dreams of becoming a famous cricketer. Stuck working as a lowly dogsbody at The Ancient Assembly of Cricket, he just needs one chance to prove himself. When Frank stumbles on the schemes of The League of The Stuffed Shirts, he must decide. Stay silent and let the game he loves be taken over.

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.

From Anju Bobby George’s unexpected gold medal at the World Athletics Final in Monaco to Abhinav Bindra’s Olympic gold in Beijing, India’s sportspersons have constantly proved that they stand shoulder to shoulder with the world’s best. However, as easy as they might make it look, their success is the result of years of struggle, focused training and relentless hard work to overcome several challenges.

Holmes recognizes his nonpareil as he watches cricketer, Don Bradman, at the Oval in 1930. But Holmes's petitioner is none other than future England captain, Douglas Jardine, who wants Holmes to find a way of getting the better of the Australia star.

Scarlett Finnegan loves to bat. Cricket is her favorite game, but she never gets to play on the team. Then one day she finds a special bat that changes everything...