A Lot of Hard Yakka

Author: Simon Hughes
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0755365615
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 281

Book Description
Between 1980 and 1993, Simon Hughes was a regular on the county circuit, playing for Middlesex until 1991 before moving on to Durham at the end of his career. In that time, he played alongside some of the great characters in cricket: Mike Brearley, Mike Gatting, Phil Edmonds and Ian Botham. This is not an autobiography of a good county pro, but a look at the ups and downs, the lifestyle, the practical jokes and sheer hard yakka that make such a poorly paid, insecure job appeal to so many. Now a respected journalist and broadcaster, Simon Hughes has written a brilliant, amusing and wrily self-depracating book, packed with hilarious and embarrassing anecdotes about some of the greatest cricketers of the last 20 years.

Who Wants to be a Batsman?

Author: Simon Hughes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471135624
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
Batsmen are the poster boys of cricket. They are the richly rewarded andrightly celebrated stars of the game: Sachin Tendulkar, Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, A.B.de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen. This is a story about them. Their hopes and fears, their triumph and torment. It is a book about the real feelings that batsmen experience and probes into their minds to see how they deal with one of the most precarious jobs in sport, in which life and death are one ball apart. Simon Hughes hero-worshipped the famous batsmen of his youth, and dreamt of scoring a hundred for England. His flawed attempts to make runs in a 15-year professional career are the prism through which he reflects on how some talented boys turn into great batsmen, and others lose their way. Now universally known as The Analyst, Hughes assesses what ingredients a batsman needs to succeed. He delves into sports psychology, showing that what goes on in the mind is the key to batting. There is no right way or wrong way to bat. This book reflects the diverse range of batting personalities and styles. Hughes spends time with many of the legendary players - from Garfield Sobers to Kumar Sangakkara - revealing what made each of them so prolific, and the secrets behind Sir Donald Bradman's phenomenal output. He chronicles the way batting has evolved and answers the fundamental question: are batsmen born or made? Written in the same wry, sardonic style as the award-winning A Lot of Hard Yakka, it is the most insightful and entertaining book about batsmen ever published.

Cricket's Greatest Rivalry

Author: Simon Hughes
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1844038106
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Book Description
'Hughes takes us on a breathless tour through cricket history, the great players, personalities, matches and events. He never slackens pace or dwells on the dry details of the scoreboard.' - The Times From the William Hill Award-Winning author of A Lot of Hard Yakka comes Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in 10 Matches, a fast-paced, distinctive history of the iconic, 135-year-old cricketing rivalry between England and Australia. The new paperback edition is completely revised and updated to include the tumultuous two series of 2013-2014, which saw more more twists and turns in this enthralling contest. No other sport has a fixture like the Ashes. From the early 1880s the rivalry between these two great sporting nations has captured the public imagination and made sporting legends of its stars. Commentator, analyst and award-winning cricket historian Simon Hughes tells the story of the ten seminal series that have become the stuff of sporting folklore. Cricket's Greatest Rivalry places you right at the heart of the action of each pivotal match, explaining the social context of the time, the atmosphere of the crowd and the background and temperaments of the players that battled in both baggy green and blue caps. Simon starts his story at the very birth of the Ashes and tells the tale of the band of Australians that took on the best gentleman and players in the Empire's HQ and beat them on their home turf. That momentous occasion set the tone for some epic contests including: The thrilling 1902 Test at Old Trafford, which was one by a mere three runs. The incredible innings of Hobbs and Sutcliffe in front of a tense and packed Oval in 1926. The legendary 'bodyline' series of Jardine, Larwood, Bradman et al in 1933. The incredible run chase in 1948 that also saw Bradman's last test. England's reprise in the fifth test of 1953 when Lock, Trueman, Bailey and Hutton steered the hosts to a whirlwind victory. The fearsome pace attack from the likes of Lillie and Thompson that transformed the contest in the first Test of 1974 and shaped the Ashes as a tournament for decades to come. Botham's Ashes in 1981 that restored pride in a sports-mad nation. The match up at old Trafford where the magic of one Shane Warne sent shockwaves through the game. And finally the breaking of the Aussie stranglehold in 2005, when Flintoff, Pietersen and Vaughan did the seemingly impossible and re-established the greatest of rivalries. The book also includes complete statistics and records of all the Ashes fixtures and results and much, much more!

Ozzy Man's Mad World

Author: Ozzy Man
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760639826
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Book Description
'Ozzy Man always finds a way to spice up the banal, put some panache into the otherwise monotonous and regularly rouse your spirits over something stupid.' Bam Margera's blog 'Brilliant, funny, creative. Keep it up man. You are the best!' A super-nice YouTube subscriber Meet Ozzy Man. A fair dinkum cheeky online entertainer via YouTube and Facebook. He loves his sport, he loves his wildlife, he loves strange things on the internet, and he's obsessed with Game of Thrones. The foul language in his videos may make some viewers blush, but to his legion of fans, his commentary is deep, profound and full of wisdom. Ozzy Man's Mad World is a literary exploration of his favourite moments on Earth so far-or at least the ones he's managed to critique. Part nature book, part sports book, part news-and-viral-entertainment book, this is Ozzy Man's take on living in a mad world. Relive the best of Ozzy Man Reviews from his first three years of hard yakka (a.k.a. taking the p*ss). Join him as he quietly reflects on his own commentary and his behind-the-scenes adventures in web media. And once you've made it to the end, you can brush up on your vocabulary with Ozzy Man's hand-picked glossary of Australian words and phrases. Yeah nah, this is a must-have book to flick through on the dunny.

How Not to be a Cricketer

Author: Phil Tufnell
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1471194566
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
'Brilliant' Paul Newman, Daily Mail SHORTLISTED FOR THE BEST SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR In How Not to be a Cricketer, former England international and TV personality Phil Tufnell highlights the many potential pitfalls of a professional cricket career, and provides a hilarious insight into how to avoid them and what happens when, like him, you don't. I was the model cricketer – if anyone wanted to know how not to be one. My career included more ups and downs than the big dipper at Margate and more bumps than the dodgems next door. And yet somehow I climbed off the ride unblemished. I survived to walk away on my own terms. For someone who never quite fitted the mould, I was actually pretty good at not being a cricketer. In his superb new book, Phil Tufnell looks back over his life and career to provide brilliant advice and insights, often learned the hard way, from his own experiences as a cricketer. If you want to learn how to make a good first impression, maybe don’t have your hair cut in a Mohican. And when, after a drunken night on an England Under-19 tour to Barbados, the players were told ‘You cannot be caught coming in at a ridiculous hour and still be drunk in the morning’ most took his wise words on board; Tuffers vowed not to get caught. Packed with brilliant stories and revealing anecdotes about some of the great players of his time, such as Mike Atherton, Mike Gatting, Graham Gooch and Nasser Hussain, How Not to be a Cricketer is the perfect read for anyone who wants to know more about the potential pitfalls of the game, and how to avoid them.

Pastoral Australia

Author: Michael Pearson
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
ISBN: 0643102132
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 227

Book Description
Pastoral Australia tells the story of the expansion of Australia's pastoral industry, how it drove European settlement and involved Aboriginal people in the new settler society. The rural life that once saw Australia 'ride on the sheep's back' is no longer what defines us, yet it is largely our history as a pastoral nation that has endured in heritage places and which is embedded in our self-image as Australians. The challenges of sustaining a pastoral industry in Australia make a compelling story of their own. Developing livestock breeds able to prosper in the Australian environment was an ongoing challenge, as was getting wool and meat to market. Many stock routes, wool stores, abattoirs, wharf facilities, railways, roads, and river and ocean transport systems that were developed to link the pastoral interior with the urban and market infrastructure still survive. Windmills, fences, homesteads, shearing sheds, bores, stock yards, travelling stock routes, bush roads and railheads all changed the look of the country. These features of our landscape form an important part of our heritage. They are symbols of a pastoral Australia, and of the foundations of our national identity, which will endure long into the future.

A Bunch of Old Bastards

Author: Ian Rennie
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1409230538
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
A collection of stories, characters and anecdotes from all over Australia and the world.Profits from book sales will go to aid cancer research in Australia.

Casey Stoner: Pushing the Limits

Author: Casey Stoner
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 0733631886
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Book Description
The bestselling autobiography of Casey Stoner, Australia's two-time MotoGP Champion. 'If you never give up, anything can happen' - Casey Stoner Showing anything is possible when determination meets talent, two-time World MotoGP champion Casey Stoner shares his inspirational journey from Queensland toddler, with an extraordinary ability on a motorbike, to his decision to retire at twenty-seven with nothing left to prove. For the first time, he tells of his early family life, the development of his riding skills and why his parents decided to sell everything and travel from Australia to Europe to chase the dream and support his aim to become World Champion when he was only fourteen years old. As fearless with his opinions as he is on the racetrack, Casey includes all the highs and lows of his life so far: the real reason he left for Europe so young, his thoughts on racing as it stands today, the riders' hierarchy, the politics of racing, the importance of family, his battle with illness and why he decided to turn his back on a multimillion-dollar contract when he was still winning. And he will let us in on some of the new goals he has set for himself. Pushing the Limits is a unique and remarkable account of self-sacrifice and determination to succeed against the odds, the inspiring story of a young Australian who took on the world on his terms, his way. . . and won.

And God Created Cricket

Author: Simon Hughes
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0552775061
Category : Cricket
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Book Description
Cricket defines Englishness like no other national pastime. From its earliest origins in the sixteenth century (or an early version played by shepherds called creag in the 1300s), through the formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in 1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was first published and the Ashes series was born, this simple sport of bat and ball has captured the imagination of the masses. Throughout its 500-year history, cricket has been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes that have brought us from the quintessential village green to Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar, via a fair number of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains. William Hill Award-winning writer Simon Hughes, no mean player himself, has lived and breathed cricket his whole life and now takes his analytical skills and typically irreverent eye to charting the history of English cricket. But this is no dry, dusty tome. It is the story of the mad characters who inhabit the game, the extraordinary lengths people will go to to watch and play it, the tale of a national obsession. It debunks the myth of cricket sportsmanship, showing the origins of sledging and match-fixing in centuries of subterfuge, corruption and violence. And it takes us beyond sport, to the heart of what it really means to be English.

Gatherers and Hunters

Author: Thomas Shapcott
Publisher: Wakefield Press
ISBN: 1862549915
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
The short stories and one longer story in this collection from Australian literary legend Tom Shapcott range in time and place from Queensland's Sunshine Coast to Adelaide to Slovenia. They encompass contemporary themes of migration and exile, to the traumas of childhood and growing up.