Certain to become the definitive manual on playing and coaching cricket, this trail-blazing book represents the first time that a cricket coach and a sports scientist (both world experts in their field) have teamed up to create probably the most comprehensive book on playing and coaching cricket there is.

The authors’ vision: to develop players who show not only technical but mental strength, and who are as physically fit and injury-resistant as possible. Much more than a coaching manual, this book reflects Bob Woolmer’s passion for constant innovation and questioning – his dedication to the art and science of cricket.

Lavishly illustrated with specially commissioned drawings and photos, the book includes useful summaries, anecdotes and tips from some of the game’s greatest players and characters.

BOB WOOLMER was considered the most forward-thinking coach in international cricket at the time of his tragic death at the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. He had just completed his magnum opus, a lifetime’s wisdom garnered from playing and coaching cricket at the highest levels, as well as working with the most gifted cricketers of current times.

TIM NOAKES is the Discovery Health professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town (UCT), as well as co-founder and director of the Medical Research Council/UCT Research Unit for Exercise Science and Sports Medicine at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa. In 2002 he received a doctor of science degree from UCT for seminal research findings in the exercise sciences. Noakes is one of the 22 founding members of the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Science Academy and is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. A veteran of over 70 marathons and ultramarathons, Noakes is the author of the award-winning Lore of Running.

DR. HELEN MOFFETT is a freelance writer and academic. She has lectured all over the world on the social, political and cultural dimensions of cricket, and has co-produced two documentary films on cricket and nation-building in South Africa.