Summer's Crown: The Story of Cricket's County Championship - Hardcover

`A magnum opus with the lightest of touches. A visually wonderful book. Short on polemic and rich in celebration, it is a deeply humane history. To receive it is a little like being given a huge hamper at Christmas; one is still enjoying fine delicacies well past Twelfth Night.' - Cricinfo. `A superb book. A triumph. There cannot be another cricket author of recent vintage whose books have brought such deep pleasure.' - The Cricketer. `Anyone who loves county cricket should treat themselves to Summer's Crown, Stephen Chalke's wonderful 125th anniversary history of the championship. Its beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully presented pages will be a reminder of why this venerable institution has survived so long and, indeed, has regenerated itself on countless occasions.' - The Times. `I am, quite simply, lost in admiration! Summer's Crown is a really wonderful effort. My own favourite decade is still the 40s, and it is covered beautifully: the innocence, the sense of relief and reclamation, all the old anecdotes and a thousand others. It really is a terrific book.' - John Woodcock. `From Stephen Chalke's tiny but heroic Bath-based publishing house. Brilliantly researched, very well written and lovingly produced, it is a book filled with characters and laughter.' - Financial Times. `An absolute joy. A beautiful history of the county championship, so beautiful I bought it twice - once for me and once for my Dad. I hope it will be updated when Somerset eventually win the trophy, something I trust will happen before this extraordinary competition is abandoned once and for all.' - A reader in Somerset.

The Cricket Writers' Club Book of the Year for 2015. Sponsored by the England and Wales Cricket Board, this lavishly produced 352-page book celebrates 125 years of cricket's county championship: from WG Grace facing the first ball in May 1890 to Joe Root leading out the triumphant Yorkshire team in September 2014 - and now reprinted to take the story up to the close of 2016. Stephen Chalke tells in entertaining style the story of English county cricket: bringing alive the great teams and players, the memorable matches and the bizarre episodes, the times of crisis and the fascinating social history that moulds it all. Arranged in double-page spreads, extensively illustrated with colour throughout, it is a book to fascinate and absorb all those who follow cricket in England.