What if someone had dropped a hammer on the little ceramic creation and smashed The Ashes urn at Lord’s in the late 1960s? Could it have happened? It was certainly talked about.
This wonderful and rich contest that began in 1877 is bigger and better today than ever. But in the 1960s as hair grew longer, skirts shortened and pop music blossomed, it was totally ‘uncool’.
Yet this was entry-level Ashes cricket to passionate Test cricket fan and author Mark Browning.
Growing up in the Victorian regional city of Geelong in the 1960s, he embraced The Ashes and its players when it was at its lowest ebb and then rejoiced at its renaissance in 1972, cementing a relationship that endures with undimmed passion and admiration more than half a century later.
This is The Ashes: A Coming of Age Memoir.
Mark Browning has been a cricket writer for forty years. He has had five books published and has written features for every Australian and English cricket periodical you care to think of, surviving and defunct. He lives in Geelong with his wonderful long-suffering wife, Chris, who fortunately for the relationship is also a fan of Ashes Test cricket.
* Think Test cricket, think the Ashes right? The Ashes almost died out 60 years ago but The Ashes: A Coming of Age Memoir will help uncover how it survived.
* The 1960s was not just a decade but ‘The Time’ for a cricket revolution. Author Mark Browning unpacks the star players of this era and their interviews for and against Test cricket.
* As Australia and England prepare to do battle for The Ashes in a big summer of cricket, this book is the perfect summer read for cricket fans ready to discover The Ashes like never before. A front-row seat to an iconic era and the last chance to hear these legends tell their untold stories hidden in plain sight from 99% of Ashes books.
* Some notable quotes of behind-the-scenes tension during the era:
* ‘I think these games are part of our history, part of our culture, part of our heritage.’ – former Australian Test captain, the late Brian Booth.
* ‘Inside the Australian dressing room there was still a lot of ill-feeling.’ – Paul Sheahan after the sacking of Bill Lawry.
* ‘They ought to burn the Ashes.’ – Tom Graveney, stand-in England captain to Australian counterpart Barry Jarman
Publicity:
* A range of events and local media planned for the book’s release, including promotions in Adelaide and Melbourne around the time of the Third and Boxing Day tests.
* The book will also be featured in cricket publications, websites and across sporting podcasts and local radio.
