Cricket at the Crossroads

Class, Colour and Controversy from 1967 to 1977

Guy Fraser-Sampson

• Publisher: Elliott & Thompson
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781907642340
• Edition: 0
• Subtopic: European History

In a decade spanning the 1960s and 1970s three major crises gripped the world of cricket. The Close Affair in 1967, when Brian Close was relieved of the England captaincy in controversial circumstances, laid bare the ugly class prejudice which had lingered on from the days of Gentlemen and Players. The d'Oliveria Affair saw the selection of an England touring party become a major international incident which divided the nation. And the birth of World Series cricket forced players and establishment alike to confront the very nature of the game, and how it should be played. Torn between the politics of the sport and the shifting social pressures of the day, the venerable institution of cricket found itself caught at a crossroads that would come to define how the game would be played and received for years to come. Based on original research and interviews with key figures of the day, Guy Fraser-Sampson evokes the era of the 1960s and 70s, the attitudes and politics of the time, and tells for the first time the story of the decade that dragged cricket forever into the modern era. Along the way, the book tells the story of some of the cricketing greats, and of their triumphs, disasters, and personal tragedies. Gary Sobers, Colin Cowdrey, Ted Dexter, Ray Illingworth, John Snow, Derek Underwood, Geoff Boycott. The ups, the downs, and the elusive what-ifs.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER 1 : GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS
• CHAPTER 2 : THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
• CHAPTER 3 : THE CLOSE AFFAIR
• CHAPTER 4 : ENGLAND’S 1967–68 TOUR OF THE WEST INDIES
• CHAPTER 5 : THE 1968 ASHES (PART I)
• CHAPTER 6 : THE 1968 ASHES (PART II)
• CHAPTER 7 : SOUTH AFRICA’S INTERVENTION (PART I)
• CHAPTER 8 : SOUTH AFRICA’S INTERVENTION (PART II)
• CHAPTER 9 : ENGLAND’S ALTERNATIVE 1968–69 TOUR AND A SUMMER AT HOME
• CHAPTER 10 : AN END TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN TOUR AND ENGLAND V THE REST OF THE WORLD
• CHAPTER 11 : THE 1970–71 ASHES (PART I)
• CHAPTER 12 : THE 1970–71 ASHES (PART II)
• CHAPTER 13 : THE 1970–71 ASHES (PART III)
• CHAPTER 14 : A CONCLUSION TO THE 1970–71 ASHES
• CHAPTER 15 : AT HOME TO PAKISTAN AND INDIA
• CHAPTER 16 : THE 1972 ASHES
• CHAPTER 17 : ENGLAND’S TOUR OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN, AT HOME TO NEW ZEALAND AND THE WEST INDIES
• CHAPTER 18 : ENGLAND’S 1973–74 TOUR OF THE WEST INDIES
• CHAPTER 19 : THE SUMMER OF 1974
• CHAPTER 20 : THE 1974–75 ASHES
• CHAPTER 21 : THE 1975 ASHES
• CHAPTER 22 : AT HOME TO THE WEST INDIES
• CHAPTER 23 : THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
• EPILOGUE
• INDEX
• Plates
• Copyright