Long Shot Summer The Year of Four England Cricket Captains 1988

by Neil Robinson

In the summer of 1988 England began its Test series against the mighty West Indies with a draw at Trent Bridge. Defeated 5-0 in each of its last two series against the world’s most fearsome cricket team, for England simply to avoid defeat and stand up to perhaps the greatest fast bowling attack in history seemed like a huge step in the right direction. But within days the team’s captain, Mike Gatting, had been sacked following a tabloid scandal. Over the remaining five Test matches that summer, England would select a further three captains and field a total of twenty-eight players as English cricket plunged into turmoil.Using interviews with the main protagonists and contemporary reports, Neil Robinson reconstructs the events of an unparalleled summer for English cricket and asks: what was the truth behind the circumstances of Gatting’s dismissal? Why did a season of such promise descend into chaos? And what was the legacy of 1988 for the next generation of English cricketers?

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2015

Reviews

[Alejandro Shirvani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable read. There is a lot of detail here not only about the games but the general context around the series with the media, focus on off-field behaviours and the media's championing of certain players as well as the selectors' continuous chopping and changing.

The reflections of Chris Cowdrey and his experience on being pulled out of county cricket to become England captain mid way through the summer are really interesting.

One frustration of this summer is that England had some quite decent players, and at times in the series competed quite well especially with the ball, only to be undone by a West Indies that always had enough class in the armoury with the likes of Marshall, Ambrose bowling and the middle order of Logie and Dujon who could pull them out of a batting hole.

The book is well researched and brings you right in to the era, one of the better cricket books I have read.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This captures so well the miserable treadmill of short term selections through the summer of 1988 against a backdrop of rain interruptions and manufactured tabloid scandal. On paper England had such a strong batting line up - Gooch, Broad, Gower, Lamb, Smith and yet we cycle through 34 selections across the summer including four different captains. But if all that sounds unlikely, two thirds of the way through the book Somerset win by an innings at Canterbury! Unbelievable!!