Book description
No season exerts a grip on the hearts of English cricket followers
quite like the summer of 1981. For the first time in a generation, the
whole country was transfixed by a Test series. What made it all the more
remarkable was that the fortunes of the national team, not to mention
those of the game in general and the country itself, seemed at rock
bottom. During the course of an Ashes series that shifted from the
mundane to the fantastical with breathtaking speed, the third Test at
Headingley proved to be the turning-point. Amid record unemployment and
the worst outbreak of civil unrest in a century, England, 500-1 against
at one stage (odds taken by two members of the Australian team),
achieved the most improbable sporting triumph of the 20th century,
mounting a dramatic comeback to beat Australia by 18 runs. The names of
Ian Botham, Bob Willis and Mike Brearley duly became forever entwined
with what readers of the Observer recently voted 'Most Memorable
Sporting Moment'. 500-1 recreates the match with the aid of those who
were there - players, officials, groundstaff, spectators and media -
while placing events in their full context, tracing a timeless tale in
rich, vivid and unprecedented detail. As the thirtieth anniversary
approaches, 500-1: The Miracle of Headingley has been fully updated to
reflect the impact that Test had on the game and those who watched it,
at a time of struggle in both the game and society as a whole. Rob
Steen has written several books including David Gower: A Man Out of Time
and Spring, Summer, Autumn (runner-up for the William Hill). He is a
sportswriter on Cricinfo (and previously for the Guardian, Sunday
Telegraph, FT, and Wisden Cricket Monthly) and senior lecturer in sports
journalism at the University of Brighton. Alastair McLellan is a former
editor of Inside Edge, and writer on Wisden Cricket Monthly. He authored
several sports books including Botham: Hero and Villain, and Nothing
Sacred: The new cricket culture.
