Contents Foreword 5 Introduction 6 Chapter One Whitsun Frolics 9 Chapter Two Early Days 12 Chapter Three The Best v The Best 14 Chapter Four St Lubbock’s Day 18 Chapter Five North v South 21 Chapter Six Canterbury Week 24 Chapter Seven Clash of Titans 27 Chapter Eight Roses in Bud 35 Chapter Nine WG in Holiday Mood 39 Chapter Ten Lord’s and the West Country 43 Chapter Eleven Joining the Party 47 Chapter Twelve Best of Enemies 50 Chapter Thirteen End of the Golden Era 54 Chapter Fourteen Cornerstones of the Season 59 Chapter Fifteen Lord’s and the Seaside 63 Chapter Sixteen Roses in Bloom 69 Chapter Seventeen Hatching Bodyline 75 Chapter Eighteen Breaching the Big Six 80 Chapter Nineteen The Record Holders 86 Chapter Twenty In the West 91 Chapter Twenty-One Wallflowers 96 Chapter Twenty-Two Woolly Backs and Cobblers 101 Chapter Twenty-ThreeWelsh Fervour 107 Chapter Twenty-Four Wartime Holidays 126 Chapter Twenty-Five Middlesex v Sussex 133 Chapter Twenty-Six Lancashire v Yorkshire 138 Chapter Twenty-Seven Surrey v Nottinghamshire 144 Chapter Twenty-Eight Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Others 148 Chapter Twenty-Nine Hampshire v Kent 153 Chapter Thirty Gloucestershire v Somerset 157 Chapter Thirty-One Essex v Worcestershire 161 Chapter Thirty-Two Leicestershire v Northamptonshire 167 Chapter Thirty-Three Tourist Trade 171 Chapter Thirty-Four Changing the Dates 178 Chapter Thirty-Five Changing Partners 183 Chapter Thirty-Six Late Holiday Deal for Durham 190 Chapter Thirty-Seven Dying Embers 192 Bibliography 196 4