Hollow Crown
Regular price
€25.99
Award-winning cricket writer Mark Peel charts the development of the England captaincy - from the autocratic captains of the post-war years to the dual captaincy of the present, where power is shared between captain and coach. Peel examines the huge demands the England captaincy imposes on the occupant and why few leave office with their reputation enhanced. You'll learn about the long-lasting legacy of the Hutton captaincy of the mid-1950s, the downfall of mavericks such as Brian Close, Tony Greig and Mike Gatting, the success of the Illingworth and Brearley eras and the chaos of the 1980s, when captains came and went with regular abandon, and finally the glory years of Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss. The Hollow Crown contains individual portraits of the 43 England captains, exploring their background, philosophy, strengths, weaknesses and the legacy they left, with special attention given to the likes of Hutton, May, Illingworth, Brearley, Atherton, Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss.
Mark Peel has written 12 books including England Expects: A Biography of Ken Barrington (winner of the 1993 Cricket Society Literary Award), The Last Roman: A Biography of Colin Cowdrey, Ambassadors of Goodwill: MCC tours 1946/47-1970/71 (shortlisted for the MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year 2018) and Playing the Game?: Cricket's Tarnished Ideals from Bodyline to the Present (shortlisted for the Daily Telegraph Cricket Book of the Year 2018).