Rose Tinted Summer

This is batsman Joe Sayers 'fly on the wall' diary of Yorkshire County Cricket Club's 150th season, with unrivalled access and unique insight into the world of professional cricket. In the year marking the 150th anniversary of this world-renowned cricket Club, Fighting for the Rose rides the ups and downs of a County season through the eyes of Yorkshire CCC's vice captain, Joe Sayers. The book provides fascinating insight into the Yorkshire dressing room on the team's return to the top flight of English cricket and addresses key issues affecting the modern game. As decades of golden past are celebrated in the anniversary year, Sayers portrays the characters from Yorkshire's inner sanctum and charts their year-long challenge for domestic silverware. From a wintry January evening at Sheffield's Crucible theatre to the summer's swan song at The Oval nine months later, the book reveals the true story behind Yorkshire's cricketing year and the people that made it memorable.
Though the book takes a naturally chronological approach, the cricketing year is captured in a reflective and somewhat philosophical style, with light-hearted anecdotes and portraits depicting the everymen of County cricket. Cricketing debates within the book address the commercialisation of the modern game; the marriage between T20 cricket and the purist's preference for the longer form; and the game's more technological future. Whilst Yorkshire's elite challenge for the Division One title, brief diversions are made into the lower levels of the game and Club cricket in England's biggest County. The variety and unpredictability of one player's summer makes for fascinating reading.