Book Review: Summer's Crown - the story of cricket's County Championship by Stephen Chalke

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am parochial when it comes to my cricket. Yes, I am a cricket fan per se, and will happily watch people playing it on a beach, but county cricket is my thing. I follow England, but given the choice between a strong Derbyshire or national side, I will take my county every time, thank you.

I still regard the County Championship as THE competition and, that being the case, I was always likely to enjoy this book by Stephen Chalke, one of my favourite cricket writers, on its history from its origins in the late nineteenth century.

Yet to say that I like this book in no way does it justice. Indeed, even in the face of tough opposition from some of the author's other work, this is a tour de force. Seriously, it is that good.

The only negative I could think of is that reading this in bed will leave you in danger of looking like Mike Gatting after Malcolm Marshall rearranged his nose in the Caribbean a few years back. It is a weighty tome, but it could not have been done in such detail in any other way. It is lavishly illustrated, with many photographs I have never seen before, such as that of William Whysall's funeral cortege going through Mansfield, where I went to school. The photographs of old grounds and players are well researched and complement the text well and the overriding feel of the book is one of quality.

The text? As I expected it is outstanding, coupling relevant facts from the decades and years in question, with just the right number of anecdotes to keep it light and interesting, as well as informative. I have been reading cricket books for closer to fifty years than forty, yet came across facts and stories that I had never seen before. Some of these stories can only have been unearthed by someone who has chatted to old cricketers, as they are some way removed from the formulaic rehashing of old tales picked up from numerous books over the years. The author's love of cricketers, as well as cricket, shines through and makes every turn of the page a joy.

The statistics are sufficiently detailed and the layout of the book is attractive. A big plus is the font size, perfect for those, like me, whose vision is some way removed from being 20/20 and who might still struggle if they ate industrial quantities of carrots.

I have not yet finished it, but know that as soon as I do I will want to start again, probably picking up something that I missed the first time around. At £20 it isn't the cheapest book on the shelves, but given its quality it is actually very good value. As we embark on another season of county cricket, this is a book that you could keep in your match day bag, to bring out when the weather is inclement and you need something worthwhile to help you pass the time.

Of all the cricket books I have read over the years, this is probably my favourite. Seriously, it is that good, so do yourself a favour and buy one while stocks last.

Be assured, this one is set for 'classic' status.

Summer's Crown: the Story of Cricket's County Championship is written by Stephen Chalke and published by Fairfield Books. It is currently on Amazon for £20 and is also available from all good book shops.

Book review - A Long Half Hour by Stephen Chalke

The latest book that I've been sent for a review was always likely to be a pleasure, as I have been a fan of the author since his first book came out.

Stephen Chalke's Runs in the Memory is, without doubt, one of the finest cricket books ever written and his easy style makes it one that you can go back to time and again. The basic premise is so simple you wonder why no one did it before - take a sample of cricketers who played in the 1950s and let them talk to you about their favourite match. Mix in a liberal splash of laugh out loud anecdotes, together with stories that were in the press of the day and it is a recipe for a wonderful book. Within its pages is the legendary Derbyshire v Hampshire game that was completed in a day, the events told from the players' perspective.

Several others have followed in the intervening period, all of them written beautifully and doing great credit to their subject. I am a big fan of oral histories anyway, having read the wonderful volumes on the First World War produced by Lyn MacDonald after her chats with veterans over a number of years. One only wishes that Stephen Chalke had started writing twenty years earlier, so he could have done similar volumes on the game in the 1930s and '40s.

A Long Half Hour comprises extended articles on six of the players who made the earlier books so entertaining. Understandably there is some duplication, but the players concerned - "Bomber" Wells, Geoff Edrich, Eric Hill, Dickie Dodds, Ken Biddulph and Arthur Milton  - are brought to life by the author's writing.

A danger in this sort of book is that it descends into hero-worship, but Stephen Chalke presents the individual and is unafraid to mention the fallibilities and foibles that we all have. We find that Arthur Milton needed a challenge to play really well and that Geoff Edrich was not a fan of Cyril Washbrook. The trust of the players in the author is evident from what they tell him, confident that it will appear in the manner intended. Every page has fresh revelations and wonderful anecdotes, with the best perhaps being that on "Bomber" Wells, a character so large that he might well have been invented.

Boundary catches taken with one hand while having a cup of tea, the player tricked into using a bat filled with compressed sawdust and the captain who was unaware of his 'stand and deliver' bowling style. He walked in from mid-off for the first ball of the over, walked back to his position and walked in again, in time for the third ball! Wells retired with 999 first-class wickets, quite proud that while a good few had reached a thousand, no one else had pulled up one short. Then, after he retired, a statistician found he 'only' had 998...

Wonderful stuff and the stories keep coming throughout 128 pages of pleasure. The era is brought to life within its pages and the game seems in many ways different to the modern one, almost certainly the better for it.

A Long Half Hour by Stephen Chalke is published by Fairfield Books and is priced £9.50 on Amazon.