England’s rise to World Cup glory
The Tied Test between Australia and the West Indies in 1960 saw volumes of literature on the epic contest but nothing to match the accounts of Jack Fingleton and Richie Benaud.
In The Greatest Test of All, Fingleton lives every exciting moment with brilliant prose, while Benaud revisits the same match in A Tale of Two Tests, the other being the Manchester thriller of 1961. The edgeoftheseat narrative leaves the reader in a trance.
In modernday cricket, England’s World Cup triumph of 2019 is a tribute to the team’s amazing resilience and selfbelief. To have snatched the title from under the nose of a tremendous New Zealand unit was in itself amazing stu and it is presented in a thrilling form by seasoned cricket writers Nick Hoult and Steve James.
Morgan’s Men: The Inside Story of England’s Rise from Cricket World Cup Humiliation to Glory is a comprehensive tale of a grand feat, written lucidly by two of cricket’s best authoritative writers. It is a rich anecdotal journey of 16 chapters where the authors trace the team’s rise with brilliant research and details from England’s encounters, ending with the breathtaking nal at Lord’s.
What prompted the book? Hoult, chief cricket correspondent with The Telegraph (UK), says, “Before the World Cup, I wrote a long article for The Telegraph about how England had reinvented their Oneday cricket. It was around 7,000 words and did remarkably well.
“It brought in a record number of online subscriptions for a sports article and made me think there could be a book in this if England went on to win the tournament. Steve and I share the same agent, David Luxton, and we both contacted him a few days before the nal with an idea to write this kind of book. So we decided to team up to share the workload.”
The book takes o with the pulsating nal and brings out every aspect of the match with indepth interviews with the actors of the drama. How was it reaching out to the champion players as part of the narrative? Hoult responds, “The book is reportage behind the scenes, so a lot was done either during the tournament or before it. Everyone gave their time freely. (Eoin) Morgan was interviewed by both of us. Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, the coaches, were very helpful too as was Danny Reuben, the England media manager.”
The authors bring to us some little known facets of the team and Hoult rates this the most important phase for English cricket as World Cup saw a new champion in England, which had nished runnerup in 1979, 19■7 and 1992. “I think it was more important for England than the wider game, particularly as hosts. England had such a poor World Cup record for 20 years. This campaign changed everything from attitudes towards whiteball specialists, encouraging players to go to the IPL (Indian Premier League) and improve their skills, and putting whiteball cricket on par with Test cricket. England basically caught up with the rest of the world but still take Test cricket very seriously. Keeping that balance will be the challenge now,” maintains Hoult.
The World Cup victory means a lot to cricket in England. Hoult notes, “Before COVID struck, cricket had experienced record ticket sales for 2020 at both international and domestic level. The Hundred was due to be launched riding on the back of the World Cup success. Ben Stokes was BBC Sports Personality of the Year and nally cricket players were once again household names.”
The toughest part of the writing, concluded Hoult, was “Trying to t it all in. We really wanted to leave no stone unturned. To be honest we could have written it twice over in the end.”
He loved the partnership with James. “He came up with the structure and we split the chapters pretty much 5050. We read each other’s chapters, suggested changes, and it all went very smoothly. Steve, as a former England player, has an excellent eye for technique and deconstructing batting so his knowledge really lifted the book.”
The book will be available in India in July.
England’s 2019 World Cup triumph is a tribute to its amazing resilience and selfbelief and is presented in a thrilling form by Nick Hoult and Steve James.
Morgan’s Men: The Inside Story of England’s Rise from Cricket World Cup Humiliation to Glory
Allen & Unwin Pages: 336