Fatty Batter: How Cricket Saved My Life (Then Ruined It) - Softcover

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Michael Simkins was born in Brighton in 1959. In 1966 he managed to watch the football World Cup Final with three West Germans, but then shortly afterwards cricket turned his head. From the well of the sweetshop - with a plastic bat, Jamesons Raspberry Ruffles stumps and Easter Egg Display boundary - began Michael Simkins' love affair with the sound of leather on willow. From an Esso Schools semi-final with the chance of a final at the Oval for the winners to a place in the Gaieties XI in Delhi (with president, Harold Pinter, and an injured leading batsman, Sam Mendes), facing Bishan Bedi, greatest post-war off spinner in world cricket, Michael Simkins has seen it all. As well as suffering from dodgy decisions on the field, he has found himself auditioning for premium rate Cricketcall updates with a recording of himself singing at the age of six, and skived off filming with Martine McCutcheon in a Tesco's car park to watch England's Ashes triumph at the Oval. When he hasn't been playing, watching or dreaming about cricket, Michael has trained at RADA and appeared in more than 70 plays in rep. His stage highlights include A View from the Bridge at the NT as well as musicals Chicago and Mamma Mia. He also directed Alan Ayckbourn's Absent Friends at the Greenwich Theatre. He has made countless appearances on TV and on the silver screen in such films as Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. He lives with his wife, actress Julia Deakin, in north-west London, and still plays cricket all over the Southern Counties.