Australian Summer The Story

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, reporting his nineteenth Anglo-Australian series, and Charles de Lisle, bringing an original mind to his first, have combined to give a compelling account of the 1998/9 Ashes series. For the first time in a decade, after a surprising summer victory against the tough South Africans, an Ashes tour opened with a glimmer of hope for England. The Ashes turned out to be a vivid, competitive and enjoyable series but Australia, tougher in tight corners, prevailed for a sixth successive time. England was left in search of a revival based upon radical changes to the domestic game. An Australian Summer takes the reader behind the scenes, revealing and interpreting what really happened in dressing rooms, aeroplanes, hotels, bars, boardrooms, commentary boxes, umpires' rooms, and in the stands with the member and the Barmy Army. More than just a chronicle of events on the field, the book explores what sort of society it is that has produced Australia's consistent cricketing success, and why England is still failing.