Now on sale - From Azeem to Ashes:
With voices from clubhouses to boardrooms to the commentary box, Azeem to Ashes rejects sentimentality, taking a hard-nosed, but affectionate, look at the game, its future and asks how it can square up to the tricky questions it faces in an age of social division and monetised sport.
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September 2020. Cricket is in the headlines for the first time since the 2005 Ashes. But the focus is racism not runs or wickets. Azeem Rafiq’s treatment has ignited fierce debate about prejudice and class. From Azeem to Ashes charts the last, miserable days of Joe Root’s captaincy in early 2022 through to the T20 World Cup victory before the breathless Bazball Ashes finale at the Oval. The book never ducks uncomfortable questions posed by the Rafiq affair. Why do England’s cricket teams – men’s and women’s – look so unlike the nation they represent? How can grassroots participation be developed and preserved? In the franchise-driven, global circus of modern cricket, what place is there for Tests – or even 50-over games? A book written for cricket lovers by a cricket lover, Azeem to Ashes rejects sentimentality, taking a searching but humorous look at the game and its future challenges.
You can read a taster on my blog which reflects the contents of my books, covering everything from sport to politics to education and all points in between.
