In this feature Martin tells the story of Percy Fender, a talented and intelligent cricketer and, outside the game, a man who could not be accused of doing anything other than living life to the full
As the third writer to have chronicled the life of a national treasure Andrew Murtagh took on a tricky challenge with this one, but from Martin’s review would seem to have emerged triumphant
This week’s book delves way back into the history of the game, the story beginning back in the reign of Charles I, and ending more than a decade before Test cricket began
Having already reviewed one very different book on the subject Martin has been reading Duncan Hamilton’s book about the climax of the 2016 County Championship
There must be more books about the history of Yorkshire cricket than that of any other county, which makes Jeremy Lonsdale’s feat in looking at part of the subject from a new perspective all the more impressive
Over the years Australian cricket has produced a succession of top class fast bowlers – there aren’t so many left now who saw Ray Lindwall in his pomp, but most of those still believe him to be the best of the lot
As England take on South Africa at Lord’s Martin reviews the biography of a man whose main claim to fame relates to a feat he performed at the famous old ground as long ago as 1899
The records Frank Woolley set are from another time and cannot be judged by the standards of today, but despite that the way he played would have been entirely suited to the 21st century – in this feature Martin tells his story
After World War Two a number of Commonwealth cricketers gave up the possibility of long term Test careers in order to earn a living with English counties – one of the very best of them was Roy Marshall of Hampshire and West Indies