Scott Oliver, who attended Alleyne’s High School (1991) and played cricket at Moddershall for 30 years, has landed the Wisden Book of the Year prize, arguably cricket writing’s most prestigious award.
His debut book ‘Sticky Dogs and Stardust’ — subtitled ‘When the Legends Played in the Leagues’ — is a collection of essays about world-famous cricketers plying their trades in the leagues of, among others, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham, Birmingham and of course Staffordshire.
Among the local tales are those of Shahid Afridi playing for Little Stoke, Garry Sobers turning out for Norton in the Potteries, and the momentous spell that Imran Tahir spent with Oliver at Moddershall & Oulton CC.
Other featured players include Shane Warne, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Gordon Greenidge, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Adam Gilchrist, AB de Villiers, VVS Laxman, Kapil Dev, Steve Waugh, Allan Donald, and Jacques Kallis, all of whom left favourable impressions at their clubs.
The same cannot be said of Wasim Akram — who through no real fault of his own had a short and dramatic spell at Smethwick — and Kevin Pietersen, who was something of a diva during his season with Cannock.
Oliver, 50, whose parents still live in Fulford, collected his award at a black-tie dinner at Lord’s this week to launch the 161st edition of the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, the ‘bible’ of cricket.
In making the award, Wisden said:
“Oliver has done a magnificent job researching and recovering these stories, delving into mildewed scorebooks, interviewing teammates and opponents,” while commending the book’s “fund of astonishing stories, which would have remained untold without Oliver’s labours” and “the verve and elan of his writing”.
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The book can be bought from https://www.thenightwatchman.net/buy/sticky-dogs-and-stardust. Apply discount code STICKY10 for 10% off the cover price.
