Books
'Between Overs - How Life Gets in the Way of Cricket’
by Michéle Savidge
Pitch Publishing 2022
Michele Savidge’s life changed the moment she saw Viv Richards bat in a small Somerset village and aged 12, she set her heart on becoming a cricket journalist. Between Overs is an elegiac, sometimes comedic, romp through the challenges she faced. It includes outrageous ‘Me Too’ incidents, in-depth appraisals of her hero Viv Richards and a close encounter with the actor Peter O’Toole. But, more than that, it is an exploration of the grief she experienced at the loss of her beloved parents, particularly her beloved father and how cricket faced her soul.
‘Real Quick - A Celebration of the West Indies Pace Quartets’
by Michéle Savidge and Alastair McLellan
Cassell 1995
With a foreword by Viv Richards, Real Quick offers an in-depth analysis of how the West Indies developed the strategy of employing four pace men to dominate world cricket. The authors use interviews with Test cricketers - including Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Michael Holding, Imran Khan, Mike Getting and Graham Gooch - as well as comprehensive statistics and observations to assess the impact of West Indian fast bowling. They talk to the bowlers themselves, their captains and the batsmen who faced them. The authors demonstrate that it has been the application of practice and fitness, and of natural and tutored cricketing skills, which made Caribbean pace bowling pre-eminent - the perfection of a sporting art that is truly worthy of admiration and celebration.