Beyond The Pavilion: Reflections on a Life in Cricket

Beyond The Pavilion spans seventy years of social, regional and cultural history through the eyes of one of crickets earliest Test match wayfarers, Barry Knight. As a ten-year-old, Barry saw Don Bradmans 1948 Invincibles at Lords. His early days were spent playing street cricket in Londons East End, captaining his school against Eton College, and later captaining England Schoolboys. At the age of fifteen, he was recruited to play for Essex and went on to become one of Englands finest all-round cricketers. In this memoir, Barry reflects on his international playing career and his experiences touring India, Pakistan, Australia and New Zealand in the 1960s. He recounts tours with Fred Trueman, Geoff Boycott, Ted Dexter, and Colin Cowdrey and playing against the eras best Australian, Indian, Pakistani, and West Indian players. He also shares stories about life in London in the Swinging Sixties and his place in the DOliveira affair, and the anti-apartheid protests. After his retirement, Barry moved to Australia in the 1970s and became Australias first professional cricket coach mentoring and developing three Test match captains: Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh. He also had a front-row seat in the development of World Series Cricket. The book includes endorsements from leading players, commentators and journalists, including Sir Garfield Sobers, Allan Border, Ian Chappell, Barry Richards, Geoffrey Boycott, Doug Walters and Sir Michael Parkinson. This sporting memoir is richly illustrated with photographs from Andrew Leemings and other private collections. See more