Richie Benaud’s Blue Suede Shoes

The Old Trafford Ashes Test of 1961 has everything - except a reverse lap, an epic contest superbly retold by David Kynaston and Harry Ricketts. In their expert hands, the match also becomes a trigger for a fascinating slice of social history, epitomised by the contrasting outlooks of the two captains, Peter May and Richie Benaud in his blue suede shoes. It is a spellbinding read even though most of us know the outcome of the match and an essential text for those of us who wonder why the Aussies beat us so often -- Vic Marks A scrupulous and subtle evocation of one's of cricket's forgotten classics: the Ashes of 1961 -- Gideon Haigh It will fascinate the keenest cricket followers, taking us back with shrewd insight to a famous Ashes Test match, but it is simultaneously an account of the social issues of the time, which are illuminated in numerous, often subtle ways throughout -- Mike Brearley This wonderful book recreates a famous Ashes Test played more than sixty years ago, making it as vivid and enjoyable to the reader as if they were watching it enacted live on television. The research is extraordinarily rich, the prose utterly exquisite. The central characters in the story, whether Australian or English, players, commentators or administrators, are sketched with deftness and authority. And the narrative of the cricket itself is both deeply informative and hugely enjoyable. Richie Benaud’s Blue Suede Shoes is destined to become a classic of sporting literature -- Ramachandra Guha, author of A CORNER OF A FOREIGN FIELD A highly enjoyable account with helpful historical context of one of the great Ashes test matches. The authors' evocation of the summer of 1961 paint the picture exactly as this superannuated 12-year-old remembers it as he sat on the grass behind the boundary rope, absorbed in the pendulum swings of the cricketing drama being played out in front of him -- Colin Shindler, author of MANCHESTER UNITED RUINED MY LIFE