Trevor Bailey

As the lynchpin of the national cricket team in the 1950s, Trevor Bailey was renowned for his deadly tight, medium-pace bowling which gave nothing away, and for his dour backs-to-the-wall batting, technically correct and tailored for a crisis. Forty years on, after a distinguished career as a cricket administrator, he is an integral part of the BBC's "Test Match Special" commentary team. Jack Bailey has known his namesake since their schooldays, and the two played for Essex together throughout the 1950s. With this inside knowledge of "The Boil", he reveals the man behind the facade - a man who turned down an England tour because he would earn more money from playing amateur football; a man who abandoned his defensive rationale to hit a six immediately upon #100 being offered for the first batsman to do so; a man who, despite his establishment connections and guaranteed place in the team, never captained his country. Jack Bailey has also written "Conflicts in Cricket".