Duncan Stone is a historian long interested in the social and cultural machinations of sport, the concept and application of amateurism and who, exactly, gets to define the form, function and meaning of sport. He has worked as a forensic photographer, DJ and club promoter, builder, local government officer and lecturer lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, and was previously a visiting researcher at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.
A modern-day John Arlott: uncomfortable but indispensable reading for those who love cricket but may so far have avoided Duncan Stone's vital home truths about the game. In this fascinating journey through history, Duncan Stone goes back to the working-class roots of the game, lifts the lid on the myths that cricket lives by, and explains why it's impossible not to love it. A warm, accessible but thorough-going account of how cricket and class are intertwined in England. Full of personal wit and charm but also rigour and drive.