Illustrated by Nick Newman
The collected weekly Guardian columns of Dave Podmore, cricketer ordinaire
As a proud veteran of twenty-eight seasons' hard yakka, Dave Podmore knows cricket inside out and isn't afraid to say his piece. A county crusader who has missed several England call-ups through celebration-related injury niggles, "Pod" is also a plain-speaking commentator whose Guardian columns have covered subjects as diverse as match-fixing and umpiring scandals, England's Test performance and 2001's whitewash of the Aussies (at the post-match fancy dress night, that is, largely due to Marcus Trescothick's unbeaten Charlotte Church). Now The Word of Pod preserves "the Podmeister's" nuggets of salty wisdom in handy book form for cricketers, their fans and their fiancees everywhere. There's even some exclusive advice for the latter from the lovely Jacqui. As Pod himself would say, "it's like a Boys' Own fairytale dream come true."
'Pod is uniquely qualified to represent England'
Wisden Cricket Monthly
Christopher Douglas is co-creator with Nigel Planer of 'Nicholas Craig' and his autobiography, I, An Actor, published by Methuen, and the author of Jardine, the biography of the 'Bodyline' legend, also available from Methuen. He lives in Islington.
Andrew Nickolds has been the ghost-writer for Ned Sherrin of Radio 4's Loose Ends monologues and is the author of Arthur Daley's Back to Basics.