The final over: the cricketers of summer 1914

August 1914 brought an end to the 'Golden Age' of English cricket. At least 210 professional cricketers (out of a total of 278 registered) signed up to fight, of whom 34 were killed. Cricket stands as both a statistical, and very human, representation of the price paid in British blood as a whole. The sun-baked atmosphere of English society's last carefree weeks is graced by some of the Corinthian greats of their day, like Lord Lionel Tennyson and the polymath C B Fry, brought alive through the words of their own letters and diaries, both on the sports fields of England and in the bloody.;Cover; Praise; Title Page; Dedication; Contents; Preface; 1 Golden Age; 2 Spring; 3 Early Summer; 4 Midsummer; 5 High Summer; 6 Blood-red Sunset over the Thames; 7 To Arms; 8 '16 Dead Englishmen'; 9 Endgame; Appendix: Roll of Honour; Bibliography; Sources and Chapter Notes; Plate Section; Copyright.