Title Details

Julian Knight was born in 1972 in Chester. He was educated at the Chester Catholic High School and later Hull University, where he obtained a degree in History. Since 2002 Julian has been the BBC News personal finance and consumer affairs reporter and has won many awards for his journalism. Before this, he worked for Moneywise magazine and wrote for The Guardian amongst many other publications. He has also authored Wills, Probate & Inheritance Tax For Dummies and Retiring Wealthy For Dummies.
Julian has played league cricket for 20 years. He is a former captain at Blackheath Cricket Club and has played for several clubs in London and the north west of England.

Gary Palmer played first-class cricket as an all-rounder with Somerset for ten years. He has since developed a successful career as a cricket coach and holds the English Cricket Board’s Level III coaching qualification. He has taught other coaches as part of the ECB Coaching Team and has also been involved with delivering the Centre of Excellence programme to Regional and National Youth Squads. During the winter of 1995/6 he worked in South Africa at the Eastern Province Cricket Academy as Head Coach, and since then his top-class coaching experience has included working with the Australian Test team in 2001, the India Test team in 2002, and the Sri Lanka Touring team in 2002. He established the CricketCoachMaster Academy in 2003, with the aim of providing boys aged between 15 and 19 who want to become professional cricketers with a cricketing experience in a first-class environment. Gary currently works as a specialist batting coach for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club.

Foreword.

Introduction.

Part I: Getting Started.

Chapter 1: Taking In the Joy of Cricket.

Chapter 2: Getting to Grips with the Basics.

Chapter 3: From 20 Overs to 5 Days: The Many Formats of Cricket.

Chapter 4: Grabbing the Right Gear: Cricket Equipment.

Part II: Playing the Game.

Chapter 5: Honing Your Batting Skills.

Chapter 6: Making it Big As a Bowler.

Chapter 7: Fielding Made Easy.

Chapter 8: Talking Tactics: Captaining a Cricket Team.

Chapter 9: Talented Training and Cricket Coaching.

Part III: Welcome to Planet Cricket.

Chapter 10: Grasping the Global Rivalries.

Chapter 11: Taking in Big International Tournaments.

Chapter 12: The Domestic Cricket Scene.

Chapter 13: Becoming a Cricket Fan.

Part IV: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 14: Ten Greatest Ever Cricketers.

Chapter 15: Ten Most Memorable Cricket Matches.

Chapter 16: Ten Mind-boggling Cricket Feats.

Chapter 17: Ten Great Cricket Controversies.

Index.

"A jargon-busting, comprehensive guide to cricket." (Cricket World, November 2006)