Gideon Haigh, one of the world's most celebrated cricket journalists, tackles this great personality in his unique style. How has Warne shaped sport and how has sport has shaped him? Who is the real man behind the back page and front page headlines?
One of The Times' 50 Greatest Sports BooksIn May 1977, the cricket world awoke to discover that a thirty-nine-year-old Sydney Businessman called Kerry Packer had signed thirty-five elite international players for his own televised 'World Series'. The Cricket War is the definitive account of the split that changed the game on the field and on the screen.In helmets, under lights, with white balls, and in coloured clothes, the outlaw armies of Ian Chappell, Tony Greig and Clive Lloyd fought a daily battle of survival. In boardrooms and courtrooms Packer and cricket's rulers fought a bitter war of nerves.A compelling account of the top-class sporting life, The Cricket War also gives a unique insight into the motives and methods of the man who became Australia's richest, and remained so, until the day he died. It was the end of cricket as we knew it – and the beginning of cricket as we know it.Gideon Haigh has published over thirty books, over twenty of them about cricket. This edition of The Cricket War, Gideon Haigh's first book about cricket originally published in 1993, has been updated with new photographs and a new introduction by the author.
The Ashes, the symbol of cricket supremacy between England and Australia, is the game's oldest and fiercest rivalry, still hot to the touch after a century and a quarter. The Book of Ashes Anecdotes collects hundreds of the best stories from more than 260 publications to create the fullest, fieriest and funniest account of these two nations divided by a common game. In 2005, and after 16 long years, England's cricketers regained the fabled urn in a series that fascinated and gripped cricket fans as never before. The drama of this contest raised ancitipation about the 2006-07 series to record levels, and Ashes Anecdotes provides an unrivalled collection of the highlights of this celebrated tournament. The book includes a foreword by David Frith and extracts from the best cricket writers of the past 124 years. Featured here are the giants of the game, the most memorable Ashes matches, gamesmanship, Bodyline, tales of travel, cricket fever and fan fanaticism, luck and superstition in the game, selection and sledging. It's a book no cricket fan should be without.
Most people gave England a modest chance of success. Some, like Glenn McGrath, insisted that history would repeat itself and Australia would administer another 5-0 whitewash. What no one anticipated was that the 2010-11 Ashes Tests would see one of the most complete performances ever by an England touring side, the first Ashes victory on Australian soil for 24 years, with, uniquely, three innings victories. It was a series, indeed a tour, full of remarkable records, from the bats of Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott, and the ball of James Anderson and Graham Swann. Every member of the side made crucial contributions—even those like Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan who had not originally been first choices for the Tests. Now, Gideon Haigh, "one of the best living writers on cricket" (Daily Telegraph), tells the full story of this amazing sporting achievement. Beginning with the build-up to the series—Australia going into it on the back of an uncharacteristic losing run, England after a year of quietly solid consolidation—he covers each Test, day by day, in pithy match reports and elegant analyses. Ashes 2011 is the perfect way to re-live a memorable sporting triumph.
