THE KINGS OF SUMMER

Duncan Hamilton

Six months on from the start of the season back in April, it all came down to the final afternoon of the very last match – at the Home of Cricket. The two sides, Middlesex and Yorkshire, went into the game first and second in the table. If neither managed to force a win, it would leave the County Championship title to third-placed Somerset.

Late September was blessed with beautiful Indian-summer weather; the biggest crowd for a county match at Lord’s for some 40 years turned up to watch, and four days of battling, attritional cricket, the balance swinging either way, culminated in an unbelievably tense run chase by Yorkshire. As the autumn shadows lengthened, an unforgettably gladiatorial contest was finished by the Middlesex fast bowler Toby Roland-Jones in the most memorable way of all: a hat-trick.

Now, the award-winning sports writer Duncan Hamilton, who was at Lord’s to watch every ball, re-lives this extraordinary, epic match, the finest advert for one of the most demanding competitions in any sport.

Duncan Hamilton is one of only two authors to have won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award twice, for Provided You Don’t Kiss Me, about Brian Clough, and Harold Larwood. His other acclaimed books include Immortal, on George Best, The Man Who Could Fly and For the Glory, his biography of Eric Liddell. He lives in Leeds. 

ISBN: 978-09932911 2 8
128pp
177 x 111mm
Jacketed hardback

‘[An] inspiring account by Duncan Hamilton of the gripping match at Lord's last September in which the County Championship was decided at the wire between Middlesex and Yorkshire... A fine piece of cricket writing, and a fitting tribute to a match that was everything a connoisseur of our wonderful game could want.’ Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph

‘A little classic of the game... showcasing not only the Championship’s compelling rhythms, but also the skill of one of the world's best writers. The book, beautifully published by Safe Haven, drifts down myriad highways and byways, with the spirit of Neville Cardus never far from the roadside. At the heart of it all is a deep love and appreciation of the Championship.’ Chris Waters, Yorkshire Post

‘That thrilling match has just been memorialised in book form by Duncan Hamilton, the noted author, in a lovely extended essay called The Kings of Summer. It is commended to all cricket-lovers, to remind them that, however cold the world may feel at times, they are not alone.’ Michael Henderson, The Times