{"product_id":"9780750994699-the-final-innings","title":"The Final Innings","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Cricketers of Summer 1939\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe first book to follow the leading British cricketers of 1939 from the sports field to the fields of war\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoint winner of the Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year 2020 award\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe declaration of war against Germany on 3 September 1939 brought an end to the second (and as yet, final) Golden Age of English cricket. Over 200 first-class English players signed up to fight in that first year; 52 never came back. In many ways, the summer of 1939 was the end of innocence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsing unpublished letters, diaries and memoirs, Christopher Sandford recreates that last summer, looking at men like George Macaulay, who took a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket but was struck down while serving with the RAF in 1940; Maurice Turnbull, the England allrounder who fell during the Normandy landings; and Hedley Verity, who still holds cricketing records, but who died in the invasion of Sicily. Few English cricket teams began their first post-war season without holding memorial ceremonies for the men they had lost: \u003cem\u003eThe Final Innings\u003c\/em\u003e pays homage not only to these men, but to the lost innocence, heroism and human endurance of the age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56450747171190,"sku":"9780750994699","price":10.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/stand_30154334.jpg?v=1760453909","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9780750994699-the-final-innings","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}