Trundlers

Some men are born medium-paced, some achieve medium-pace, and some have medium-pace thrust upon them.

Bowlers who take wickets not with pace or spin, but - at speeds between 65 and 85mph - by nagging accuracy are the commonest in cricket. So far, however, nobody has paid them any attention. Yet seam bowling remains one of cricket''s most mysterious arts. George Hirst, one of the best early exponents of swerve, was as puzzled by it as his opponents. ''Sometimes it works,'' he said, ''and sometimes it doesn''t.''

Examining the history of medium-pace bowling, explaining how swing both normal and reverse actually works, and telling the story of some of the great and not-so-great dobbers such as Shackleton (''His bowling, like his hair, never less than immaculate,'' noted Wisden approvingly), Trundlers will bring bread-and-butter bowlers who ''do a bit off the seam'', ''wobble the odd one about'' or simply ''nag away at off-stump'' out into the limelight for the first time.

Warm, affectionate and told with Harry Pearson''s trademark humour, Trundlers celebrates dobbers in all their sleeves-rolled-up, uncomplaining workaday glory.