The Sweetest Rose - David Warner

Yorkshire County Cricket Club was formed on January 8, 1863. Once Lord Hawke had taken over the captaincy a couple of decades later, it went on to establish itself as the most famous cricket club in the world.

The Sweetest Rose traces the history of Yorkshire County Cricket Club over its 150 years right up to the present day - a tale of triumph, trophies and inner turmoil. With unequalled access to the club, David Warner has been given the freedom to cover the full unabridged story.

The book spotlights the leading personalities attached to the Club, both on and off the field, and seeks to establish exactly what it is that has made it the greatest cricket club in the world. It has won the County Championship title outright a record 30 times and was joint Champions with Middlesex in 1949. The first success was in 1893 and the most recent was under the captaincy of David Byas in 2001.

During the past 150 years, Yorkshire has produced some of the greatest names ever to play the game – Wilfred Rhodes, George Hirst, Hedley Verity, Len Hutton, Herbert Sutcliffe, Fred Trueman, Brian Close, Raymond Illingworth, Geoffrey Boycott, Darren Gough and Michael Vaughan to name but a few.

As David Hopps, UK editor, ESPNcricinfo, writes in his foreword to the book:

"The task of writing a history of Yorkshire cricket must be a petrifying thought. Not only is there a need to pay respects to a great tradition, you must pick your way through a variety of disputes that have dogged the county through the ages. It is a task that demands meticulous research, a dogged perseverance and above all a high level of integrity. David Warner is well equipped on all three counts."

The Sweetest Rose will appeal to all those interested in the history of cricket as well as fans of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

PUBLICATION DETAILS

The Sweetest Rose: 150 Years of Yorkshire County Cricket Club 1863-2013 by David Warner, foreword by David Hopps, published by Great Northern Books, 1st November 2012, £17.99. Hardback, 416 pages, ISBN: 9781905080311.
To order a copy phone 01274 735056 or visit the website at www.greatnorthernbooks.co.uk.

AUTHOR DETAILS

Author David Warner has reported on Yorkshire’s fortunes from 1975 and for 33 years was Yorkshire cricket correspondent for three local newspapers. He is also editor of the much acclaimed Yorkshire CCC Yearbook. His substantial collection of cuttings over almost four decades has provided him with a vast amount of information on the peaks and troughs of the White Rose county. David Warner says:

“Yorkshire County Cricket Club, born in 1863, remains as robust as ever in 2013, 150 years on. It’s an anniversary worth celebrating because the club has a history which few others can get close to matching.”