Publisher's Synopsis
After becoming the fourth oldest Test debutant when he was selected for England's tour of Pakistan of 2005 at the age of 36, in his autobiography "Hampshire and England", cricketer Shaun 'Shaggy' Udal lifts the lid on a career which has seen him win domestic trophies, play for his country and achieve cult hero status at the Rose Bowl for his passionate displays as county captain, while also finding himself being banned for playing cricket and football in the minor leagues when his legendary temper has got the better of him. Renowned for his sense of humour, Shaun tells bundles of stories from the Hampshire and England dressing rooms, including how he 'minded Phil Tufnell on the 1994/5 Ashes tour, bum-squeezing tales of food on the sub-continent, Steve Harmison's "Lovejoy" DVD collection and how to get out of various scrapes while on a night out in Basingstoke! Udal relives the high and low moments of one of the most exciting eras of Hampshire cricket and tells an intriguing tale of the great Malcolm Marshall and a round of golf. He will also reveal the true source of his nickname, which allegedly emanates from his resemblance to the Scooby Doo character of that name! Udal also tells how big-hearted England captain 'Freddie' Flintoff saw off his daughter's school playground bullies with a few timely words. There are fascinating insights also on 'insecure' Hampshire and England teammate Kevin Pietersen, on Shane Warne's strange eating habits and how he was the first to encounter Marcus Trescothick's brush with mental illness. The life of a sports star is full of highs and lows, never better exemplified when Shaun returns home from the England tour of India in the winter of 2006 having bowled his country to victory in the final Test to discover that his wife has been keeping their son's diagnosis of Autism from him to allow him to remain on tour. This revelation, how he manages, or otherwise, to cope with the news and how the family pull together to try to overcome this adversity forms the cornerstone of the book. Shaun also reveals his bitter, long-running feud with England captain Nasser Hussain and his close relationship with cricketing legend Shane Warne, who provides the foreword for this gripping and fascinating anatomy of a cricket cult hero. It includes a foreward by Shane Warne.
