Cricket

This commemorative book of the first West Indies cricket team and its tour of England in 1928 is more than a chronicle of a historic first tour. It is an account of a politically organised community and the only unifying symbol of the nation West Indians were just beginning to imagine.

In addition, the book provides an archive of the tour in the form of press reports and score sheets with the numerous photographs many of which are being reproduced for the first time.

On May 21, 2004, playing against New Zealand, Andrew Strauss wrote his name into the record books when he became only the fourth batsman to score a century at Lord's on his Test debut. He made 112 in the first innings and was only denied a historical second hundred when he was run out on 83. England went on to beat New Zealand 3-0 before returning to headquarters to welcome the West Indies, Strauss scoring 137 as the hosts laid the foundations for another whitewash. He then raised the bar again when touring the country of his birth, making three centuries in England's first win in South Africa for 40 years. This sensational start to his international career has ensured that he has been celebrated as a world-class opening batsman, and was voted Wisden's Cricketer of the Year 2005. In THE STORY SO FAR, Andrew Strauss looks back on his early cricketing days and astounding first year in Test cricket, and gives the inside story on what it is like to be part of an incredible England side fighting to overtake Australia as the number one cricketing nation. THE STORY SO FAR includes his personal story of how England beat Australia in the 2005 Ashes Series, in which he played a major part.

In this first volume Professor Hilary Beckles examines the short-lived first rising of West Indian cricket supremacy, arguing that it sent a clear message to the world that the newly independent nations of the West Indies were able to lead world cricket with certainty, purpose and poise.

The West Indies Cricket Team, formed in 1884, made its first overseas tour to Canada and United States. The first match was played against the Montreal Cricket Club, 16-17 August 1886. This book speaks to the Canadian and American beginning of the West Indian cricket culture that emerged a century later as a powerful performance force of the game.