Bowler's Name?

The Life of a Cricketing Also-Ran

Tom Hicks

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785319242
• Year: 2021

Bowler's Name is a tale of a life in cricket's margins. Tom Hicks is no household name, but he often rubbed shoulders with cricketing royalty, going from the village green to walking out as captain at Lord's. As an ambitious youngster, Hicks dreamed of reaching the top. But trying to make it big and balance the demands of university, family, a full-time job and a penchant for post-match fun was no easy feat. Settling for an unglamorous life as a minor county player, cricket took him to all corners of the country, and then across the globe, getting an insight into the nether regions of a cricketing world that was rapidly vanishing. Through the eyes of a cricket nut, Bowler's Name takes us on a journey of success, failure, hilarity and often sheer madness. If you've ever wondered what it's like to face 90mph bowling, to have lunch with Mike Gatting or to infiltrate an England post-match party, Hicks is your man. Bowler's Name is for fans of cricket idiosyncrasies, lovers of the underdog and anyone who has tried and failed.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Early Days
• 2. Growing Up on the Village Green
• 3. First-Class
• 4. A Leading Role
• 5. Some Real Legends
• 6. An Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman meet on a tropical island …
• 7. On Trial
• 8. Switching Codes – Some Rugby-Related Tales
• 9. The Leopards – Dorset CCC
• 10. The Art of Captaincy – Amateur Style
• 11. In the Club – Becoming an MCC Member
• 12. A Watching Brief
• 13. Signing Professionals, Sponsorship and Skodas
• 14. Keeping Up With the Joneses
• 15. Smells Like Team Spirit
• 16. Who’s the Fastest?
• 17. Best Batsmen
• 18. Socialising With Some Big Guns
• 19. Broken Bones and Bowing Out
• Postscript
• Photos