A Last English Summer: The Biography of a Cricket Season
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Review
'[Hamilton's] passion and knowledge shine through ... a rich and nostalgic read' The Independent.
'Hamilton's mix of reportage, observation, history and anecdote never fails to hold the reader's interest. The quality of his writing, so evident in his previous works, shines again' Mike Atherton, The Times.
'Combining reportage, anecdote, history and personal recollection, a Last English Summer is an honest and passionate reflection on cricket's past, present and future. A memorable and acutely observed portrait of one summer of cricket from an award-winning sports writer, it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the English game' Yorkshire Evening Post.
'If anyone can meld cricket, social commentary and memoir, it's this double William Hill Sports Book Of The Year winner' Metro.
'[Hamilton] demonstrates a thorough understanding of how to bring a game to life. You will not find here any bland sentences trotting out what is obvious from a glance at the scorecard, and everything that is written adds something to what has already been said... It is not just the way the game was played in years gone by that Hamilton's book harks back to. His writing, particularly by virtue of his liberal use of similes and metaphors, contains many shades of sepia and has much of the romanticism of Cardus about it... Were it just for its core contents this would be an excellent book but there are other features that deserve to be noticed' Cricketweb.
'The gentle crack of leather on willow - that classical English sound - has rarely been brought to life quite so delightfully as in Hamilton's wonderful new book. Combining good old-fashioned journalism, beautifully observed writing and his own recollections, he recounts the story of a single season's cricket from a personal perspective. Famous for his best-selling memoir of football manager Brian Clough, and having won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year twice, this author has the knack of bringing people and places to life. Even non-cricket fans will be enthralled by this quality book.' News of the World.
'Hamilton's mix of reportage, observation, history and anecdote never fails to hold the reader's interest. The quality of his writing, so evident in his previous works, shines again' Mike Atherton, The Times.
'Combining reportage, anecdote, history and personal recollection, a Last English Summer is an honest and passionate reflection on cricket's past, present and future. A memorable and acutely observed portrait of one summer of cricket from an award-winning sports writer, it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the English game' Yorkshire Evening Post.
'If anyone can meld cricket, social commentary and memoir, it's this double William Hill Sports Book Of The Year winner' Metro.
'[Hamilton] demonstrates a thorough understanding of how to bring a game to life. You will not find here any bland sentences trotting out what is obvious from a glance at the scorecard, and everything that is written adds something to what has already been said... It is not just the way the game was played in years gone by that Hamilton's book harks back to. His writing, particularly by virtue of his liberal use of similes and metaphors, contains many shades of sepia and has much of the romanticism of Cardus about it... Were it just for its core contents this would be an excellent book but there are other features that deserve to be noticed' Cricketweb.
'The gentle crack of leather on willow - that classical English sound - has rarely been brought to life quite so delightfully as in Hamilton's wonderful new book. Combining good old-fashioned journalism, beautifully observed writing and his own recollections, he recounts the story of a single season's cricket from a personal perspective. Famous for his best-selling memoir of football manager Brian Clough, and having won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year twice, this author has the knack of bringing people and places to life. Even non-cricket fans will be enthralled by this quality book.' News of the World.
Product Description
Combining reportage, anecdote, biography, history and personal recollection, A Last English Summer is an honest and passionate reflection on cricket's past, present and future. A memorable and acutely observed portrait of one summer of cricket from an award-winning sports writer who has watched - and loved - cricket since he was a boy, it is essential reading for anyone who cares about the English game. In 2009 the county system looked directionless and obsolete; more than ever the players blessed with central contracts seemed apart from, rather than a part of, the domestic game; the Ashes series was for the first time only available on pay-TV; and, of course, the juggernaut of Twenty20 threatened to flatten all but the Test form of the game, suggesting it may soon eclipse even that as well. Duncan Hamilton has preserved this seminal, convulsing season, which in years to come may be seen as a turning point in the history of cricket in a way that overshadows even the Packer Revolution of the 1970s. In the process he embarks on a journey - often a deeply personal one - through the history and spirit of the game. He experiences irresistible nostalgia for what has been and will never return, together with an overwhelming love for the game that transcends even the most dramatic shifts in the way it is played.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The problem with this book is the publishers' hype. It's a perfectly pleasant read with, in places, extremely shrewd insights into the past, present and future of English cricket. But the 2009 cricket season simply wasn't the "seminal, convulsing season" that the publishers maintain in their blurb. The book isn't some sort of vaguely diagnostic analysis of English cricket's predicament, as they imply. And the 2009 season isn't "preserved" by Duncan Hamilton beyond the particular twenty or so matches he attended. I suspect none of this is the author's fault.
So don't expect a great deal about the Ashes series. Hamilton saw the Australians' county game at Worcester, two days of the Edgbaston test and the final one day international in late September at the Riverside. Those are the only mentions of the Australian tour. Issues such as central contracts and the availability of the Ashes series only on pay-TV - which feature prominently on the book-jacket - warrant only fleeting mentions. And Allen Stanford not at all.
Instead, what you get is Duncan Hamilton's highly personal reflections as he attends a selection of games intended to represent the diversity of English cricket, from village, club and Lancashire League games to an Under 19 international at Scarborough, the Friends Provident Final at Lord's and the Sri Lanka v West Indies group game from the Twenty20 World Cup. He writes about the contemporary issues that matter to him, such as the problem of spectator drunkenness and how much he hates T20 cricket, and not at all about others.
The book is as much about the stories and characters from cricket's past inspired by the cricketing action as it is about what happens in these games (although I thought one strength of the book was how well the author writes about the action in front of him). So there are frequent digressions about, among many others, W G Grace's last test match, Bradman's double centuries at Worcester, cricket writers J M Kilburn and R C Robertson-Glasgow, the Jack Warner movie The Final Test, early cricket at Hambledon, Ted Peate's unmarked grave, and infighting at Yorkshire CCC down the generations.
You will probably love this book if your taste in cricket is romantic and nostalgic. But I rather tired of hearing how things were better in cricket's past than today. Indeed, in the first half of the book it seemed that the modern game had not a single redeeming feature when compared with days of yore, and I wouldn't have been surprised to find the pages turning sepia before my very eyes. Later on the analysis becomes more balanced, particularly after the author reads in old cricket magazines from the early 1970s how similar to his own views about T20 were the apocalyptic statements from the cricket establishment about the new 40-over John Player League, and how it could be the death knell for longer forms of the game.
Please don't let me put you off trying the book. It's full of interesting things and the author writes very well. It's just that it isn't quite what you might think from the publishers' claims and is also somehow less than the sum of its parts. But some parts are really first class, among them: the description of cricket at Scarborough, a brief couple of pages on Herbert Sutcliffe and, especially, his analysis of Ricky Ponting which was as good as anything I've ever read about the Australian captain.
So don't expect a great deal about the Ashes series. Hamilton saw the Australians' county game at Worcester, two days of the Edgbaston test and the final one day international in late September at the Riverside. Those are the only mentions of the Australian tour. Issues such as central contracts and the availability of the Ashes series only on pay-TV - which feature prominently on the book-jacket - warrant only fleeting mentions. And Allen Stanford not at all.
Instead, what you get is Duncan Hamilton's highly personal reflections as he attends a selection of games intended to represent the diversity of English cricket, from village, club and Lancashire League games to an Under 19 international at Scarborough, the Friends Provident Final at Lord's and the Sri Lanka v West Indies group game from the Twenty20 World Cup. He writes about the contemporary issues that matter to him, such as the problem of spectator drunkenness and how much he hates T20 cricket, and not at all about others.
The book is as much about the stories and characters from cricket's past inspired by the cricketing action as it is about what happens in these games (although I thought one strength of the book was how well the author writes about the action in front of him). So there are frequent digressions about, among many others, W G Grace's last test match, Bradman's double centuries at Worcester, cricket writers J M Kilburn and R C Robertson-Glasgow, the Jack Warner movie The Final Test, early cricket at Hambledon, Ted Peate's unmarked grave, and infighting at Yorkshire CCC down the generations.
You will probably love this book if your taste in cricket is romantic and nostalgic. But I rather tired of hearing how things were better in cricket's past than today. Indeed, in the first half of the book it seemed that the modern game had not a single redeeming feature when compared with days of yore, and I wouldn't have been surprised to find the pages turning sepia before my very eyes. Later on the analysis becomes more balanced, particularly after the author reads in old cricket magazines from the early 1970s how similar to his own views about T20 were the apocalyptic statements from the cricket establishment about the new 40-over John Player League, and how it could be the death knell for longer forms of the game.
Please don't let me put you off trying the book. It's full of interesting things and the author writes very well. It's just that it isn't quite what you might think from the publishers' claims and is also somehow less than the sum of its parts. But some parts are really first class, among them: the description of cricket at Scarborough, a brief couple of pages on Herbert Sutcliffe and, especially, his analysis of Ricky Ponting which was as good as anything I've ever read about the Australian captain.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For many, sadly, Cricket is just about T20, The Barmy Army, fancy dress and corporate days out! But like a considerable number of us who still love this great game, like Duncan Hamilton, it is about so much more.
As a member of Cambridge University CC, days reflecting in the sunshine, whilst watching a game of cricket slowly unfold is near to a perfect form of relaxation as you can find, unless Facebook, Wii's, computers games etc are your bag!
Within this book Hamilton looks at so much that is being lost in Cricket, the wonderful outgrounds around the UK for example, rarely used by some counties now as they hold every event at their County Ground, maybe to pay for a monstrousity of a new stand? Stand up Lancashire CCC.
The way the once vibrant Lancashire league has slowly slipped out of the consciousness of the local population, great summer festivals such as Cheltenham College, Colchester and Scarborough. Sadly though these are becoming fewer year on year.
I guess this is a little bit of a 'marmite'book, if you like the smash and grab of a few pints and a T20 slog you may get little from it, however if a day at Arundel Castle watching a County Cricket match unfold(players in white), is your bag then you will get so much from it.
Cricket at this level still has something unobtainable I believe from any other sport and rather than deride it, we should look to promote it and encourage people back into watching the county game. I fear though in reality that with so many other attractions and what seems many people's short concentration span these days, a day at the cricket will become the enjoyment of fewer and fewer people year on year.
Call me nostalgic and a romantic, i've no problem with that, in fact I hope to remain that way for the rest of my life as I continue to enjoy the greatest of games!
As a member of Cambridge University CC, days reflecting in the sunshine, whilst watching a game of cricket slowly unfold is near to a perfect form of relaxation as you can find, unless Facebook, Wii's, computers games etc are your bag!
Within this book Hamilton looks at so much that is being lost in Cricket, the wonderful outgrounds around the UK for example, rarely used by some counties now as they hold every event at their County Ground, maybe to pay for a monstrousity of a new stand? Stand up Lancashire CCC.
The way the once vibrant Lancashire league has slowly slipped out of the consciousness of the local population, great summer festivals such as Cheltenham College, Colchester and Scarborough. Sadly though these are becoming fewer year on year.
I guess this is a little bit of a 'marmite'book, if you like the smash and grab of a few pints and a T20 slog you may get little from it, however if a day at Arundel Castle watching a County Cricket match unfold(players in white), is your bag then you will get so much from it.
Cricket at this level still has something unobtainable I believe from any other sport and rather than deride it, we should look to promote it and encourage people back into watching the county game. I fear though in reality that with so many other attractions and what seems many people's short concentration span these days, a day at the cricket will become the enjoyment of fewer and fewer people year on year.
Call me nostalgic and a romantic, i've no problem with that, in fact I hope to remain that way for the rest of my life as I continue to enjoy the greatest of games!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Duncan Hamilton has followed up his brilliant biography of Harold Larwood with a delightful trawl through the 2009 cricket season taking in first-class, Lancashire League and Village Cup. Hamilton is particularly keen on the County Championship and has some concerns about its survival. He finds the four day match much to his liking even though at times attendances are sparse. However, with his splendid prose and his obvious love of the game, he paints some beautiful pictures with which all serious cricket watchers can identify. He has concerns about the effect that Twenty Twenty might have on cricket in the future but remembers the similar gloomy forecasts expressed by well known writers of the game when the Sunday League was introduced forty years ago. Cricket in the form Hamilton prefers survived that period and eventually all lovers of the game found space for the truncated version. The book is very well laid out with excellent appendages and index. Short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of 2010, Hamilton could well do the "hat trick" having won this prestigious award with masterpieces about Brian Clough(2007) and Harold Larwood(2009). This book takes the form of historical reminiscences, personal memories and up to date comment and opinion and is dedicated to Hamilton`s grandfather who taught him to love both cricket and libraries. Highy recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Flawed concept
This is a pleasant read, with Hamilton traipsing around the country calling in at various cricket grounds. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Sport Nut
Cricket as it used to be
This is an imaginative and anecdotal journey around the English cricket scene
during one summer. Read more
during one summer. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dr D.
A must read
Without question this is the finest new cricket book I have read for many years. It is beautifully written, full of fascinating facts and not short of the authors interesting... Read more
Published 10 months ago by P. Kilmartin
Who is "Garry" Sobers?
Is 'Garry' Sobers the same chap who scored those six sixes off Malcoln Nash at Swansea all those years ago?
Published 17 months ago by pip49
Another hit from Hamilton
Hugely enjoyable read, written with a real passion for the game, particularly in its purest form. The individual snapshots of the different games that make up the English... Read more
Published 21 months ago by A. R. J. Rogers
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