Description
Book SynopsisAn England cricket tour is a unique phenomenon, with its own pressures, challenges and remarkable highlights. It presents its participants - shorn of the usual support networks they enjoy at home - with a prolonged test of skill, physical stamina and mental resilience. Now Simon Wilde, author of the acclaimed England: The Biography, examines in The Tour the delicate chemistry that makes for a successful tour and why others disintegrate so badly. Since the 19th century, England has been sending its cricket teams around the world to take on their rivals. Initially, these trips were undertaken by boat, meaning players could be away for many months, often in alien conditions. With air travel reducing journey time and facilities much improved, the challenges still remain: homesickness, isolation, hostile crowds - not to mention an opposition determined to win at all costs. For some, the experience can be too much, while others thrive in
Trade Review‘This entertaining account is as much social history as sports reporting, as he engagingly dissects the various political, economic, social and practical aspects of sending England teams around the world, as well as delving into how England teams can be successful overseas’ * Country Life *
'No other sport has tours like cricket tours — long, action-packed and often gossip-filled, too — which is why Simon Wilde's comprehensive history of the English cricket team abroad is so packed with interest... Riveting' * Daily Mail *
'A superbly researched mix of analysis and anecdote … hugely readable and highly recommended' * The Cricketer *
'Bravely, and ultimately wisely,
The Tour eschews chronological history and Wilde is a joy on the surreal. England cricket tours are a direct link to the Victorian era, but
The Tour never feels like an obituary' * i *
'A fine and comprehensive history of England cricketers on tour … There are plenty of fun tales in this book of drunkenness and sexual misadventures, much encouraged by their generous hosts, especially in Australia, where they knew it was not in their interests to have England in a fit condition' * The Times *
