Over and Out: My Innings of a Lifetime with Test Match Special

Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1473670934
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 365

Book Description
For over half a century, Henry Blofeld has conveyed his unfailing enthusiasm for the game of cricket as a much loved broadcaster and journalist. His characteristically patrician tones, overlaid with those of the bon viveur, have delighted listeners to the BBC's Test Match Special where the personality of the broadcaster comes second only to a deep knowledge of the game and its players. With his engaging conversational tone it is easy to see why listeners feel as if they are actually at the Test match watching in Henry's friendly company. Now that 'Blowers' has decided to declare his TMS innings closed, his book reveals the secrets of life in the commentary box and of the rich cast of characters with whom he shared it, from the early days of John Arlott and Brian Johnson to Aggers and new boys Boycott, Swann, Vaughan and Tuffers. Henry is equally revealing of his own performances and self-deprecatingly recalls his several verbal misfortunes while live broadcasting. Like the greatest commentators and writers on the game Blofeld has always understood that there is a world beyond the cricket field. Not forgetting pigeons passing, red buses and much loved cricket grounds, Henry Blofeld writes of his favourite countries, and experiences while travelling, and meeting and interviewing many cricket-loving celebrities. His passionate and entertaining book will become one of the classics of cricket's literature.

Ten to Win . . . And the Last Man In

Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529359961
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 419

Book Description
'Is there anything in sport to compare with the sustained excitement of a cricket match, especially a Test match, in which the advantage continually fluctuates one way and then the other, and when the match enters its last few minutes, all four results are still possible?' After entertaining countless radio listeners around the world for decades, who better to convey the breathless drama of a Test match cliffhanger than Henry Blofeld? Now, in Ten to Win . . . and the Last Man In, he has personally selected thirty matches featuring unforgettable finishes and brought them vividly to life again in his own inimitable way. Ranging from the match-winning bowling of F.R. Spofforth against W.G. Grace's England in 1882, via the first tied Test between Benaud's Australia and Worrell's West Indies in 1960, to the never-say-die batting of Ben Stokes in 2019, he picks out the key events and performances of each memorable match and describes them as only he can. Alongside the big-hitting heroics of Jessop in 1902 and Botham in 1981, he revisits less celebrated matches such as South Africa's hard-fought first Test win in 1906, as well as a crucial innings from Denis Compton in 1948 and a match-saving performance by a young Alan Knott in Guyana in 1968 - one of the most exciting matches he has ever witnessed first-hand. Filled with colourful detail and informed by insight gained from a lifetime immersed in the sport he loves, Henry Blofeld's latest book will leave the reader in no doubt - as he himself puts it - about 'what an absurdly irresistible game cricket can be'.

Squeezing the Orange

Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007506414
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
The quintessentially English cricket commentator, writer, oenophile, bon viveur, collector and national treasure, fondly known as “Blowers”, tells his riveting life story.

A Thirst for Life

Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780340770498
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 421

Book Description
With his trademark bow tie, his distinctive rich, plumy voice, and his eccentric observations, Henry Blofeld is one of Britain's prized cricket experts. He has been close to the heart of the game for over 40 years. As a leading commentator on Test Match Special and cricket writer, at home and abroad, he has informed and entertained wide audiences with his extensive knowledge and perception of cricket at the very highest level.

Cricket and All that

Author: Henry Blofeld
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780340819739
Category : Cricket
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Book Description
This is a hilarious and irreverent account of a sport that originated in 16th century England and was then gradually fed to the British Empire whose members regularly outplay the old country. The author's probing research has uncovered hitherto most secret scandals amongst the governing bodies of the game and of the complex lives of some of the great heroes of the past and present day. With his outrageous and contagious sense of humour the author has written a book which explains why cricket is a national institution.

Captain Cool: The M.S. Dhoni Story

Author: Gulu Ezekiel
Publisher: Westland Sport
ISBN: 9395073438
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Book Description
About the Book THE MOST POPULAR BIOGRAPHY OF INDIA’S COOLEST AND MOST SUCCESSFUL CRICKET CAPTAIN Mahendra Singh Dhoni is as calm and unruffled a sportsman on the field as he is self-effacing off it. But ‘brute strength’, ‘murderous form’ and ‘a man possessed’ were some of the phrases that came to mind when, on 5 April 2005 in Visakhapatnam, he exploded onto international consciousness by becoming the first regular Indian keeper to score a one-day century. With his striking form on the day, his long locks visible beneath his helmet, red tints glinting in the sunlight, ‘Mahi’ Dhoni had transformed from a boy hailing from an obscure small town to a sports legend with the aura of a rockstar. And yet, Dhoni was no child prodigy, no overnight success. When he made his international debut at 23, he was already mature by Indian cricket standards—with five grinding years of domestic cricket behind him. How that legend came to be, and grew from game to game, is told here by noted sportswriter Gulu Ezekiel in his crackling but measured prose. Captain Cool is the story of M.S. Dhoni, Indian cricket’s poster boy. It is also the heart-warming account of the life of a young man who won India the World Twenty20 in 2007, the 50-over World Cup title in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013, but can still tell his throngs of admirers, ‘I am the same boy from Ranchi.’ .

All that You Can't Leave Behind

Author: Soumya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Penguin Books India
ISBN: 0143066293
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 65

Book Description
If one were to do a nationwide poll of Indians born after Independence and ask which is the one date they remember most, the answer may well be 25 June 1983, the date on which India won the cricket World Cup. It is often said that cricket in India is like a religion; nothing could be more misleading. Religion has scarred the nation more deeply than anything else. Cricket is the balm that heals. In our collective consciousness, there is nothing quite like cricket. As the most visible expression of national identity, as an obsession or a dream, cricket is the only thing that possibly unites a country as diverse and as contradiction-ridden as India. In this brilliant book, Soumya Bhattacharya shows how we have made this game our own, given it our own colour, our own customs, our own codes. And how cricket in turn has come to permeate every aspect of our public life, from popular culture to politics so that, when a game is on, the rest of life happens strictly between overs.

The Sense of an Ending

Author: Julian Barnes
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307957330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Book Description
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

Playing It My Way

Author: Sachin Tendulkar
Publisher: Hodder
ISBN: 9781473605176
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
'I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar.' -Shane Warne This is cricket icon, Sachin Tendulkar's life story in his own words - his journey from a small boy with dreams to becoming a cricket god. His amazing story has now been turned into a major film, A Billion Dreams, in which he stars. The greatest run-scorer in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 after an astonishing 24 years at the top. The most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time, he received the Bharat Ratna Award - India's highest civilian honour - on the day of his retirement. Now Sachin Tendulkar tells his own remarkable story - from his first Test cap at the age of 16 to his 100th international century and the emotional final farewell that brought his country to a standstill. When a boisterous Mumbai youngster's excess energies were channelled into cricket, the result was record-breaking schoolboy batting exploits that launched the career of a cricketing phenomenon. Before long Sachin Tendulkar was the cornerstone of India's batting line-up, his every move watched by a cricket-mad nation's devoted followers. Never has a cricketer been burdened with so many expectations; never has a cricketer performed at such a high level for so long and with such style - scoring more runs and making more centuries than any other player, in both Tests and one-day games. And perhaps only one cricketer could have brought together a shocked nation by defiantly scoring a Test century shortly after terrorist attacks rocked Mumbai. His many achievements with India include winning the World Cup and topping the world Test rankings. Yet he has also known his fair share of frustration and failure - from injuries and early World Cup exits to stinging criticism from the press, especially during his unhappy tenure as captain. Despite his celebrity status, Sachin Tendulkar has always remained a very private man, devoted to his family and his country. Now, for the first time, he provides a fascinating insight into his personal life and gives a frank and revealing account of a sporting life like no other.

Beyond a Boundary

Author: Cyril Lionel Robert James
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822313830
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
In C. L. R. James's classic Beyond a Boundary, the sport is cricket and the scene is the colonial West Indies. Always eloquent and provocative, James--the "black Plato," (as coined by the London Times)--shows us how, in the rituals of performance and conflict on the field, we are watching not just prowess but politics and psychology at play. Part memoir of a boyhood in a black colony (by one of the founding fathers of African nationalism), part passionate celebration of an unusual and unexpected game, Beyond a Boundary raises, in a warm and witty voice, serious questions about race, class, politics, and the facts of colonial oppression. Originally published in England in 1963 and in the United States twenty years later (Pantheon, 1983), this second American edition brings back into print this prophetic statement on race and sport in society.