WISDEN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019       |      WINNER OF THE CRICKET SOCIETY & MCC 2019 BOOK OF THE YEAR

CRICKET WRITER'S CLUB (CWC) 2019 BOOK OF THE YEAR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 TELEGRAPH CRICKET BOOK OF THE YEAR

"The perfect antidote to whingeing Pom syndrome: a beautifully executed forensic analysis of the Australian cricketing psyche." Richard Charkin, President, John Wisden

He was the top Test batsman in the world, with numbers bettered only by the great Don Bradman – then Australian cricket captain Steve Smith led the Australian team into a cheating scandal that stunned cricket. How did a team with such hard-edged history reach crisis point under Smith, and what happened on their tour of South Africa to cause such a failure of culture on the world stage?

This is a full and frank narrative of Smith’s captaincy, David Warner's influence, the dramas that beset Australian cricket, and a blow-by-blow account from Ashes high to Cape Town low, from someone who was there for every ball and every statement. Geoff Lemon writes a dramatic story that exposes how the actions of a few young men shook the very foundations of the Australian cricket establishment.