Barry Norman's Book of Cricket

Barry Norman's Book of Cricket Synopsis

Calling all cricket fans: settle back in a deckchair, pour yourself a refreshing pint of hoppy English ale, and prepare to savour summer’s timeless symphony of leather on willow in the congenial company of Barry Norman (not just one of Britain’s best-loved broadcasters, but also a self-confessed cricket obsessive – ‘Cricket is my great passion, right up there with the movies!’).

Barry Norman’s Book of Cricket delivers a wealth of information about every aspect of the world’s most popular summer game: how its rules developed from its 18th-century beginnings; its pre-World War I ‘golden age’ and international expansion in step with the onward march of Britain’s empire; the growth of test match cricket (and of Anglo- Australian ‘Ashes’ rivalry in particular); the emergence of the English county championship and of Australia’s state competition; profiles of great players past and present; the modern phenomenon of one-day cricket and the cricket World Cup; legendary matches (from attritional test match classics to limited-overs thrillers); cricket crises and controversies (from Bodyline to Muralitharan and from chucking to sledging); bizarre facts and records; cricket’s rich and intriguing vocabulary of words
and phrases (from Yorker to doosra); memorable cricket quotes (including, of course, ‘the bowler’s Holding, the batsman’s Willey’). And beyond this sumptuous feast of cricket history, facts and feats – enlivened by anecdotes, jokes, quotes and quizzes – Barry Norman’s Book of Cricket provides practical guidance on how to become a cricketer.

Elegantly designed, gorgeously illustrated, and wryly but affectionately written by an author with a genuine passion for and deep knowledge of the game, Barry Norman’s Book of Cricket is a cricket book for all seasons, presented in the same style and spirit as Quercus’s best-selling Bumper Book of Football. , it looks set to be the must-have cricket book of 2009.

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