Book description
Slipless in Settle is a sentimental journey around club cricket in the
north of England, a world far removed from the clichéd
lengthening-shadows-on-the-village-green image of the summer game. This
is hardcore cricket played in former pit villages and mill towns, places
with names that sound like 1930s comedians, places that look straight
out of The League of Gentlemen, because they are where it was filmed. It
is about the little clubs that have, down the years, produced some of
the greatest players Britain has ever seen, and at one time spent a
fortune on importing the biggest names in the international game to
boost their battle for local supremacy. Slipless in Settle is a warm,
affectionate and outrageously funny sporting odyssey in which Andrew
Flintoff and Learie Constantine rub shoulders with Asbo-tag-wearing
all-rounders, there's hot-pot pie and mushy peas at the tea bar, two
types of mild in the clubhouse, and a batsman is banned for a month for
wearing a fireman's helmet when going out to face Joel Garner . . .
Harry Pearson is a journalist and writer who contributes regularly to
the GUARDIAN, GQ and WHEN SATURDAY COMES.
