Chris Waters' Fred Trueman Biography Wins Prestigious Award

A thrilled Chris Waters has been named as the acclaimed 2012 winner of the prestigious Cricket Society and MCC Book Of The Year Award, presented in a packed Long Room at Lord’s -  for his book Fred Trueman, the Authorised Biography”.

Chris beat off strong opposition from four other books, including one by novelist Anthony Quinn, to take the £3000 award presented by author and publisher and previous winner Stephen Chalke.

Waters accepted his short listed and winner’s certificates and cheque for £3000 after an Oscar-style countdown in the Lord’s Long Room, packed with MCC and Cricket Society Members, authors and their publishers and guest cricketing journalists and writers.

Chris said: "I'm surprised and delighted to win this prize.  Fred Trueman’s life was rich and colourful and gave me sleepless nights. I’ve not been as nervous as this since listening in on Fred’s reunion dinner with Brian Close, Ray Illingworth and Geoffrey Boycott."

Chair of judges Vic Marks surveyed the books considered by the judges and commented in detail on each of the five that had been short listed. 

"Chris’s book started strikingly with a fly on the wall account of a famous Yorkshire supper and examined Fred’s life and character without ignoring the flaws," Vic explained the judging process and, in a very strong year for cricket books, the challenges of choosing the short list and then a winner. Keynote speaker Stephen Chalke reviewed the cricket writing scene and urged those present to celebrate all the writers and books on the short list.

The competition, run by The Cricket Society since 1970 and in partnership with MCC since 2009, is for books nominated by Members and not publishers and is highly regarded by writers and publishers. 

A previous delighted winner, former Wisden editor Scyld Berry, hailed his award as "cricket’s seal of literary approval." 

Two years ago a prolonged search of the Lord’s dustbins failed to locate Anthony Gibson’s excitedly discarded winning cheque.