Trophies and tribulations: forty years of Kent cricket

Trophies and Tribulations: Forty Years of Kent Cricket is the first general book about the county's fortunes for almost quarter of a century and the first ever to be based around players view of events. Although, superficially, Trophies and Tribulations is about the recent history of one team, it is an anecdotal mirror to the grumbles, tensions, vanities, eccentricities and trivia which make up the life of any county side. It is also the story of a team who were the dominant force in the land from 1967 to 1978, inspired by some of England s post-war greats: Colin Cowdrey, Alan Knott and Derek Underwood. For the past 30 years, cowed by comparisons with the past, Kent have repeatedly fumbled and fallen at the final hurdle. Behind the scenes, arrogant committees and the shadowy Band of Brothers have often called the shots. IN THE BOOK...West Indies Test player John Shepherd explains why he wanted to land a right hook on former team-mate Brian Luckhurst in 1981. Old Etonian Matthew Fleming reveals how his selection policy as captain was shaped by players nocturnal excesses in 1999. After that, I d pick on moral grounds and if I knew someone didn t get p***** and go out sh****** every night, I d select him over the player who had. Fast bowler Martin McCague reflects on his drunken collision with the Norwich Union League trophy in 2001: We won it as a team and broke it as a team. David Fulton, now a Sky commentator, admits that the wayward Australian, Andrew Symonds, drove him to violence in 2004.