At 29, Marcus Trescothick was widely regarded as one of the batting greats. With more than 5,000 Test runs to his name and a 2005 Ashes hero, some were predicting this gentle West Country cricket nut might even surpass Graham Gooch's record to become England's highest ever Test run scorer.

But the next time Trescothick hit the headlines it was for reasons no one but a handful of close friends and colleagues could have foreseen.

On Saturday 25 February 2006, four days before leading England into the first Test against India in place of the injured captain Vaughan, Trescothick was out for 32 in the second innings of the final warm-up match. As he walked from the field he fought to calm the emotional storm that was raging inside him, at least to hide it from prying eyes. In the dressing room he broke down in tears, overwhelmed by a blur of anguish, uncertainty and sadness he had been keeping at bay for longer than he knew.

Within hours England's best batsman was on the next flight home. His departure was kept secret until after close of play when Coach Duncan Fletcher told the stunned media his acting captain had quit the tour for 'personal, family reasons.'

Until now, the full, extraordinary story of what happened that day and why, of what preceded his breakdown has never been told. He reveals for the first time that he almost flew home from the 2004 tour to South Africa – of what caused it and of what followed – his comeback to the England side and a second crushing breakdown nine months later that left him unable to continue the 2006-07 Ashes tour down under.

Coming Back to Me replaces the myths and rumours with the truth as Trescothick talks with engaging openness and enthusiasm about his rise to the top of international cricket; and describes with equal frankness his tortured descent into private despair.

On one thing, Imran Khan's friends and enemies agree: it all began with the leopard print satin trousers.

 

In November 1974, the Cricketer International published an article about the new elite group of young talented players, 'into concepts like fashion and pop music', and bent on challenging cricket's eternal stereotypes. Of the five featured stars on the cover, a superbly hirsute 21-yearold wearing a tight black shirt and gaudy trousers, with a facial expression of supreme self-confidence, stood out.

 

Imran Khan has always been a controversial figure, a man who gives rise to hot debate on account of his strong conviction and hard line views. From his achievements on the cricket field as the Pakistan captain who captured the World Cup and the game's best all-rounder in history, through to his racy social life – the practising Muslim boogieing on the dancefloor of Annabel's, 'an astonishing lovemaker', according to one overnight partner, praised by Diana Princess of Wales, close friend to his then wife Jemima Goldsmith, as a 'devoted husband' – the Imran story is full of colour and contradictions.

 

The Nottinghamshire bowler Harold Larwood was his country’s chief weapon in the notorious 1932–3 Ashes tour, during which England’s fast bowlers used so-called ‘Bodyline’ tactics to counter the threat posed by the great Australian batsman Don Bradman. Larwood’s pace and hostility left Australia’s batsmen battered, reduced Bradman to the status of mere mortal – and brought England a 4–1 series victory. But the fury it engendered brought Anglo-Australian relations to the brink of collapse. After the series Larwood was used as a scapegoat by the MCC, which demanded he apologise for his intimidatory bowling. Arguing that he had simply obeyed the instructions of his captain Douglas Jardine, Larwood refused. He never played for England again. Frustrated and depressed, in 1953 he was encouraged to emigrate to Australia by some of the same men he had played against and injured in 1932–3. The saga of Bodyline has been told before, but Larwood’s own tale, particularly his attitude to the 1932–3 series and his shoddy treatment by the establishment thereafter, has not. Using materials provided by Larwood’s family, Duncan Hamilton charts the peaks and troughs of Larwood’s life: from his mining village upbringing, through his rise to stardom, the shock of Bodyline and its traumatic aftermath, to his emigration to Sydney, where he and his family found happiness. Hamilton examines what his story tells us about issues of class and social standing in early 20th-century Britain, and about the codes and hierarchies that existed in a game that distinguished rigidly between public-school amateurs and working-class professionals A thrilling and moving recreation of the triumph, betrayal and redemption of a working-class hero and forgotten titan of English cricket, Harold Larwood will enthral and delight not only cricket fans, but all those who relish biographical writing of the highest quality.