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Lost in the Long Grass

Lost in the Long Grass

by John Woodcock (Foreword), Susanna Kendall (Illustrator), John Barclay (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2013

    $4.23
Synopsis

The former Sussex cricket captain John Barclay offers 24 written sketches on characters he has known in the world of cricket. With his customary charm and self-deprecating humour he reflects on a range of subjects: Colin Cowdrey, Mike Atherton, Ray Illingworth, Tony Greig, Mike Brearley, Imran Khan, Derek Underwood, Jack Russell, Peter Roebuck, David Lloyd and many more, including a groundsman, a quartet of cricket writers, an umpire and finally his dog Robert. In his foreword John Woodcock writes: These are not cricket prints of the kind which the great RC Robertson-Glasgow ('Crusoe') did so brilliantly. They are longer and less flamboyant than that; but they come from the same spring, refreshed by a love of the game and a wish to see the best in those who play it. His author's eye for human nature, informed by his cricket experience and access to privilege, probably misses a good deal less than his subjects might have suspected.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Pages: 240
 Edition: First Edition
 Publisher: Fairfield Books
Published: 17 Jun 2013
ISBN 10: 0956851134
ISBN 13: 9780956851130

Media Reviews
In this charming and idiosyncratic book, John Barclay brings an old-world gentleness and human sympathy to his sketches. He is modest about his literary skill but in places he writes memorably. The grand Jim Swanton would have made a good president of MCC or perhaps even Archbishop of Canterbury - 'conceivably both'. Ian Gould belonged in an era 'when a cup of tea, a cheese roll and a cigarette constituted a warm-up'. Javed Miandad's genius was 'baroque ... as opposed to Viv Richards' Wagnerian thunder.' A keen fly-fisherman, Barclay brings the atrributes of the best anglers to his writing - patience, lack of ostentation, wry humour and understated skill. He avoids taking the blunderbuss to anything which moves, and that is most refreshing. - Paul Coupar, The Cricketer. What a glorious picture he paints in each portrait. I almost came round to liking Tony Greig! He has a gentle way of deprecating his own abilities and talking up everybody else, but of course he was better than that. - A reader in Berkshire. Barclay's genial, anecdotal book of friendship, of character sketches written with respect and knowledge, will charm lovers of the game and stir memories: classics such as Colin Cowdrey and Basil D'Oliveira match willow with moderns like Mike Atherton and Ian Botham. In the long grass there is time to lose oneself in fond remembrance. - Iain Finlayson, The Times
Author Bio
John Barclay was born in 1954 in Bonn, West Germany, the son of a diplomat. A highly successful schoolboy cricketer at Eton, he first played for Sussex at the age of 16. Two years later he joined the Sussex staff as a promising all-rounder, going on to captain the county from 1981 to 1986 when he retired. Since then, he has remained in the game as Director of Cricket and Coaching for the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation, encouraging young people from less advantaged backgrounds to play and enjoy the game. To date, more than 200,000 youngsters have benefited from the scheme. He has written three books: `The Appeal of the Championship', Life Beyond The Airing Cupboard' and `Lost in the Long Grass'. `Life Beyond the Airing Cupboard' won the MCC and Cricket Society Book of the Year award. In 2009/10 he served as President of MCC.