Of Battenberg; Bombay and Blag
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€18.50
Of Battenberg, Bombay and Blag is a blood, sweat and beers switch hit across the decades with first-hand accounts and opinion pieces on club cricket, Test matches, the Hundred and IPL. With a decade of club cricket under his belt, Vic Mills heads to Australia in search of adventure only to suffer a severe bout of sledging, but he is one of the few to witness World Series Cricket. With Bodyline almost forgotten, he turns out for the Bar & Bench of Melbourne, the Gentlemen of Ballarat and (his only cap) an Australian Embassy XI in Manila. Chaos ensues in the 1980s as he blags his way into Test grounds around Australia with a building industry union card doubling as a press pass. In the 1990s, he becomes a reluctant reporter, accredited to cricket's press corps courtesy of the Times of India and Jakarta Post. Fast forward to 2009 and Vic is the driving force behind Project Front Foot, a decade-long venture to create a cricket academy for the children of South Asia's largest slum. Today, the project supports refugee cricketers in Europe.
Vic Mills left school at 15. He returned to full-time education five years later to gain a Law degree. His quest for a Masters lasted three weeks before he bolted. Shortly after, he began an enduring love affair with Australia and India. Along the way he contributed sporting copy to the Guardian, the Times of India, Jakarta Post, Sydney Morning Herald and Wisden Cricket Monthly. A Brexit refugee, he now lives in Berlin.