{"title":"Books by Alan Hill","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781803990217","title":"Tony Lock","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe rollercoaster career of \u003ci\u003eTony Lock\u003c\/i\u003e, extending over twenty-five years, is the saga of a resilient cricketer who triumphed over adversity.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was an inspirational figure in Surrey’s seven consecutive championship wins in the 1950s when he forged a feared spin partnership with Jim Laker for both club and country. Controversy stalked Lock as a bowler during his destructive rule with Surrey and England but the return to the orthodox style of his youth brought renewed acclaim. He rejoiced in another role as captain in reviving the fortunes of Leicestershire and Western Australia, where he led the state to victory in the Sheffield Shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTony Lock was, for a legion of admirers, an incorrigible showman, with boundless enthusiasm for the game. It was said of him, for instance, that when he appealed at the Oval, someone else was given out at Lord’s. \u003ci\u003eTony Lock: Aggressive Master of Spin\u003c\/i\u003e is an engrossing study that reveals the paradox of a volatile and vulnerable man, but an astonishingly durable cricketer; his memory will endure.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307496976757,"sku":"9781803990217","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803990217_3aee98cc-f6f3-4801-8bae-7ddfec864387.jpg?v=1786027029"},{"product_id":"9780413777751","title":"Brian Close","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311747674485,"sku":"9780413777751","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780413777751_2cbc7161-4e2d-48ad-a540-8755d3ab9574.jpg?v=1786013375"},{"product_id":"9781803990040","title":"Herbert Sutcliffe","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA national hero in his playing days, \u003cem\u003eHerbert Sutcliffe\u003c\/em\u003e belongs to a select band of all-time cricketing greats.\u003c\/strong\u003e Alan Hill’s award-winning biography of the Yorkshire and England batsman charts his extraordinary transformation from cobbler’s apprentice to urbane gentleman: one of the coolest, most determined and technically accomplished practitioners the game has ever known.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlessed with the looks of a matinee idol, Sutcliffe was a complex, often enigmatic, personality. As a cricketer, he was touched with genius. His career spanned exactly the years between the wars and he performed with distinction in every one of those seasons. He scored 50,138 first-class runs, including 149 centuries, and his remarkable Test average of 60.73 is the highest for an English batsman – higher than those of Hobbs, Hammond or Hutton.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHerbert Sutcliffe: Cricket Maestro\u003c\/em\u003e calls upon the reminiscences of Bob Wyatt, Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Len Hutton and Les Ames among other illustrious contemporaries, to evoke the splendour of Sutcliffe’s achievements for Yorkshire and England, and to bring to life the vivacious story of one of the greatest batsmen ever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312963301749,"sku":"9781803990040","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803990040_5c600335-f9a5-4890-84ca-a06f1e536519.jpg?v=1786027020"},{"product_id":"9781803998657","title":"Bill Edrich","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBill Edrich was regarded as one of the exciting cricket discoveries of his generation just before the Second World War.\u003c\/strong\u003e Having made his debut at sixteen against the 1932 All-India side, he surged into the national spotlight in 1938 when he scored 1,000 runs before the beginning of June; and he rewarded the faith of his champions, notably his England captain Wally Hammond, with an epic innings in the notorious ‘timeless’ Test at Durban in 1939.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the outbreak of war he joined the RAF, rising to squadron leader, and his flying skills earned him the DFC for his part in a daring daylight raid over Cologne in August 1941. Amid the grim toll of casualties, however, Edrich’s survival of the war produced the legacy of a hectic, devil-may-care lifestyle. This reckless spirit brought him into conflict with the cricket hierarchy – his omission from the tour of Australia in 1950\/51 was, according to Sir Pelham Warner, ‘a very costly error’. Edrich was finally restored to favour, playing a major role in the winning back of the Ashes in 1953, and going on to captain Middlesex and Norfolk before retiring in 1971.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver seventy-five years on from the record-breaking summer of 1947 when Edrich and his batting partner Denis Compton each exceeded Tom Hayward’s 1906 run tally of 3,518, this biography by the highly acclaimed cricket writer Alan Hill tells the story of a gallant cricketer and irrepressible partygoer, distilling the measure of his courage both as a sportsman and as a wartime hero.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312964546933,"sku":"9781803998657","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781803998657_4395baa1-f0cb-41e2-bb80-0fea1d5e23f3.jpg?v=1786027416"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-alan-hill.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}