Coming Back to Me


Book Description

Marcus Trescothick's brave and soul-baring account of his mental frailties opens the way to a better understanding of the unique pressures experienced by modern-day professional sportsmen. At twenty-nine, Marcus Trescothick was widely regarded as one of the world's batting greats. But in February 2006, as he walked from the field he fought to calm the emotional storm that was raging inside him. In the dressing room he broke down in tears, overwhelmed by anguish, uncertainty and sadness. Within hours he was on the next flight home. Coming Back to Me will replace the myths and rumours with the truth, as Trescothick talks with engaging openness and enthusiasm about his rise to the top of international cricket - and describes with equal frankness his tortured descent into private despair.




KP: The Autobiography


Book Description

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Outrageous, audacious, jaw-dropping' SUNDAY TIMES 'An essential read' DAILY MAIL 'Utterly captivating' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Hugely entertaining' GUARDIAN The fascinating life story of professional cricketer Kevin Pietersen, MBE, from his childhood in South Africa to his experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket. Kevin was dropped from the England squad in February 2014, seemingly calling time on an international career that began nearly ten years earlier. The decision puzzled many observers - although the England team had failed miserably in the Ashes tour of 2013-14, Kevin was the tourists' leading run scorer across the series, and he remains the country's highest run scorer of all time across all formats of the game. Kevin reveals all in his autobiography, telling the stories behind the many other highs and lows of his incredible career. Giving readers the full story of his life, from his childhood in South Africa to his experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket, KP is an autobiography that entertains and fascinates readers in equal measure.




A Life Too Short


Book Description

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR Why does an international footballer with the world at his feet decide to take his own life? On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty-two years old and a devoted husband and father. Enke had played for a string of Europe's top clubs, including Barcelona and Jose Mourinho's Benfica and was destined to become his country's first choice in goal for years to come. But beneath the veneer of success, Enke battled with crippling depression. Award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his friend's life, shedding valuable light on the crushing pressures endured by professional sportsmen and on life at the top clubs. At its heart, Enke's tragedy is a universal story of a man struggling against his demons. ‘It should be on every British football fan's reading list’ Metro




Absolutely Foxed


Book Description

'Wonderfully entertaining' Mail on Sunday ‘Profoundly important' Guardian Graeme Fowler - former England cricketer, happy-go-lucky joker and inspirational coach - was 47 when depression struck. Suddenly one of the most active men you'd ever meet couldn't even get up off the sofa to make a cup of tea. In Absolutely Foxed, a cricket memoir like no other, Fowler takes the reader on a vivid ride, with riotous stories of life on England tours, partying with Ian Botham and Elton John, combined with a moving account of his battle with mental-health issues. A hugely influential coach, and one of the most original thinkers about the game, Fowler looks back over his 40 years in the professional game, including his 16 years on the county circuit with Lancashire and Durham, and his three years as an England international - a period that was cut short by a life-threatening injury. He followed that with a spell working on Test Match Special, before running the Durham Centre of Excellence for 18 years. In his Foreword, lifelong friend Sir Ian Botham describes Fowler as 'one of the gutsiest I ever encountered', but also points out how he 'made a dressing room tick'. Those elements of courage, knowledge and humour are all present in Absolutely Foxed - a truly unmissable read.




Playing It My Way


Book Description

'I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar.' -Shane Warne This is cricket icon, Sachin Tendulkar's life story in his own words - his journey from a small boy with dreams to becoming a cricket god. His amazing story has now been turned into a major film, A Billion Dreams, in which he stars. The greatest run-scorer in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 after an astonishing 24 years at the top. The most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time, he received the Bharat Ratna Award - India's highest civilian honour - on the day of his retirement. Now Sachin Tendulkar tells his own remarkable story - from his first Test cap at the age of 16 to his 100th international century and the emotional final farewell that brought his country to a standstill. When a boisterous Mumbai youngster's excess energies were channelled into cricket, the result was record-breaking schoolboy batting exploits that launched the career of a cricketing phenomenon. Before long Sachin Tendulkar was the cornerstone of India's batting line-up, his every move watched by a cricket-mad nation's devoted followers. Never has a cricketer been burdened with so many expectations; never has a cricketer performed at such a high level for so long and with such style - scoring more runs and making more centuries than any other player, in both Tests and one-day games. And perhaps only one cricketer could have brought together a shocked nation by defiantly scoring a Test century shortly after terrorist attacks rocked Mumbai. His many achievements with India include winning the World Cup and topping the world Test rankings. Yet he has also known his fair share of frustration and failure - from injuries and early World Cup exits to stinging criticism from the press, especially during his unhappy tenure as captain. Despite his celebrity status, Sachin Tendulkar has always remained a very private man, devoted to his family and his country. Now, for the first time, he provides a fascinating insight into his personal life and gives a frank and revealing account of a sporting life like no other.




The Secret Race


Book Description

“The holy grail for disillusioned cycling fans . . . The book’s power is in the collective details, all strung together in a story that is told with such clear-eyed conviction that you never doubt its veracity. . . . The Secret Race isn’t just a game changer for the Lance Armstrong myth. It’s the game ender.”—Outside NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD The Secret Race is the book that rocked the world of professional cycling—and exposed, at long last, the doping culture surrounding the sport and its most iconic rider, Lance Armstrong. Former Olympic gold medalist Tyler Hamilton was once one of the world’s top-ranked cyclists—and a member of Lance Armstrong’s inner circle. Over the course of two years, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle conducted more than two hundred hours of interviews with Hamilton and spoke with numerous teammates, rivals, and friends. The result is an explosive page-turner of a book that takes us deep inside a shadowy, fascinating, and surreal world of unscrupulous doctors, anything-goes team directors, and athletes so relentlessly driven to win that they would do almost anything to gain an edge. For the first time, Hamilton recounts his own battle with depression and tells the story of his complicated relationship with Lance Armstrong. This edition features a new Afterword, in which the authors reflect on the developments within the sport, and involving Armstrong, over the past year. The Secret Race is a courageous, groundbreaking act of witness from a man who is as determined to reveal the hard truth about his sport as he once was to win the Tour de France. With a new Afterword by the authors. “Loaded with bombshells and revelations.”—VeloNews “[An] often harrowing story . . . the broadest, most accessible look at cycling’s drug problems to date.”—The New York Times “ ‘If I cheated, how did I get away with it?’ That question, posed to SI by Lance Armstrong five years ago, has never been answered more definitively than it is in Tyler Hamilton’s new book.”—Sports Illustrated “Explosive.”—The Daily Telegraph (London)




If Cricket is Religion, Sachin is God


Book Description

With hundred centuries and over 34,000 runs in international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, the highest run-getter in both Tests and ODIs, is the God of the religion called cricket. His exploits on the field have brought hope and joy to millions of fans. And yet, like God, he has his set of detractors always willing to remove him from the pedestal. In this revised and updated edition, the authors, who consider themselves fans and analysts in equal measure, follow the career of the cricketing demigod - his advent, his peak, his fall, his resurrection and, finally, his retirement. They also talk about India's sensational WC 2011 triumph and Tendulkar's decision to retire from international cricket. Armed with irrefutable statistical data, which they contextualize and analyse with rigour, the authors seek to end all debate on Tendulkar's status as the greatest cricketer of the modern era. They compare him with his peers in both forms of the game, and provide the viewpoint of experts, players and commentators, so that the reader can independently draw conclusions. And if you still don't believe that Sachin is God's gift to the world of cricket, well, God help you!




A Life Misspent


Book Description

Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', the first modern Hindi poet of India, is all of sixteen and not conversant with the Khari Boli Hindi of the litterateurs yet when his father gets him married and sends him off to his in-laws' in Dalmau to fetch his bride. There he meets a strange man called Kulli Bhaat who claims descent from a family of bards and, despite his mother-in-law's reservations about Kulli's sexuality, Nirala finds himself drawn to Kulli. Then an influenza epidemic breaks out, claiming numerous lives, and Nirala's bereavement leaves him without mooring. Adrift on the boat of time, he seeks employment in various places but finds himself unable to stay away from Dalmau for long. Kulli, in the meanwhile, has taken a Muslim wife and become a champion of the untouchables. Set in pre-Independence India, A Life Misspent is as much the account of an unlikely friendship as it is a coming-of-age story. A memoir on the making of one of the greatest poets of all time.




Night Games


Book Description

Winner of the 2014 Davitt Award for Best True Crime Book and the 2014 William Hill Sports Book of the Year ‘The Pies beat the Saints and the city of Melbourne was still cloaked in black and white crepe paper when the rumour of a pack rape by celebrating footballers began to surface ... And so, as police were confiscating bedsheets from a townhouse in South Melbourne, the trial by media began.’ What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games: night games with women. Sometimes these involve consensual sex, sometimes not, and often the lines are blurred. In Night Games, Anna Krien follows the rape trial of an Australian Rules footballer. She also takes a balanced and fearless look at the dark side of footy culture – the world of Sam Newman, Ricky Nixon, Matty Johns and the Cronulla Sharks. Both a courtroom drama and a riveting work of narrative journalism, this is a breakthrough book by one of the leading young lights of Australian writing. Shortlisted for the 2013 Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award, the 2014 Adelaide Festival Award for Non-Fiction, the 2014 Stella Prize, and the 2014 Western Australian Premier's Book Award for Non-Fiction. ‘The work of a compassionate and expansive intelligence.’ – Sydney Morning Herald ‘For every superstar, club CEO, boundary rider, bar-propper and park footballer, it should be mandatory reading.’ – Sunday Age ‘A balanced and powerful exploration of the grey area of sexual assault’ – Advertiser ‘Night Games a serious addition to the literature on sport, sex, consent and power.’ – the Australian Anna Krien is the author of Night Games, Into the Woods and Quarterly Essay 45 Us and Them. Her work has been published in the Monthly, the Age, the Big Issue, The Best Australian Essays, The Best Australian Stories, Griffith Review, Voiceworks, Going Down Swinging, Colors, Frankie and Dazed & Confused.




Driving Ambition


Book Description

Andrew Strauss, one of the most successful and respected England cricket captains of the modern era, announced his retirement from professional cricket at the end of 2012. In DRIVING AMBITION he gives a candid account of the highs and lows of his remarkable career for Middlesex and England. An outstanding opening batsman and natural leader, Andrew Strauss captained his country in 50 of his 100 Tests. During his time in charge, England emerged from a turbulent and controversial period to become the world's top team. Fully updated to cover the past year in Andrew's life; the transition from player to pundit and the fortunes of English cricket. This is an honest and entertaining story of a quiet, modest but fiercely ambitious man who became a magnificent man-manager, leading England to victory in the 2009 Ashes series and again in Australia the following year. Strauss is a fine raconteur and this revealing autobiography will appeal to all those who love cricket.