|
 |
Book Of The Year Award > 2011 >Following On - A Year with English Cricket's Golden Boys
David Tossell, Know The Score, (Pitch Publishing)
Purchase on Amazon
 David Tossell, who first came on to the cricket radar a couple of years ago with his excellent book on the West Indies tour of 1976, Grovel, turns his attention to English cricket but has found a new slant on the old 'Where are They Now' question that has enlivened may a rainy day at a county match. So, he has gone back to 1998 and the England team that won the Under-19 World Cup and examined their careers or indeed, lack of, in the intervening years. That victory may seem small beer but that team was the first male English cricket team to win a genuinely global trophy and one might have expected the team to contain major stars and for most, if not all, of the players to go on to international stardom.
What emerges in the book is a microcosm of what has gone wrong for English cricket in the years following that success. Only four players went on to play Test cricket for England, Owais Shah, Robert Key, Chris Schofield and Graham Swann, Paul Franks played an ODI but all their call-ups came very quickly after the Under-19 success. Of those, only Graham Swann can be called an unqualified success, yet it took a change of county and a very long time in the wilderness before he could call himself a world-class player. Of the others, some had or are still having, solid county careers, some had injury that curtailed their opportunities, some spluttered but failed to ignite and some never got a start.
Common threads running through the book concern the amount of differing information and instructions that came from coaches at the various levels and also the effect that a change of coach can have on a career. Several players note ruefully that they were 'head-hunted' by a specific coach from a county who then moved on or was moved out, shortly afterwards, leaving the young player on the fringes of the team or simply out of favour. Second Eleven cricket gets a hammering too. Players are told to go and get big runs but those runs tend to be disregarded when the first team squad is being looked at. Bowlers put in massive stints and injuries are common. The introduction of Kolpak players is highlighted as never before, with some of the original squad being effectively squeezed out by those imports. Northamptonshire is a particularly relevant case in question.
This could have been a completely depressing book but it is lifted by the openness of the players interviewed, which reflects on the quality of the interviewer. Alongside the interviews, the 2009 season is a constant motif as a reminder of the peaks that a player's career can reach. The contrast is obvious, as many of the players watch from their workplaces and some from County Grounds as only one of that original team takes his place in an Ashes-winning line-up. This is an admirable book and one that is essential reading. It is well-written, diligently researched and shows an enquiring mind that looks beyond the obvious.
Highly recommended.
|
|
|
