Twelve Summers

Cricket fans will have their own memories of the 2013 Ashes, a series the author remembers as a disaster. Around that time Adam Zwar was making a documentary about bodyline, and one planned stunt had Brett Lee bowling bouncers at him while he went without a helmet. Matthew Hayden warned him not to go ahead, but the cameras were already set up, and Zwar asks what choice he really had.

Other episodes follow. When Australia A came close to beating Australia in the 1995 World Series Cup, with the players rebelling against officials, Zwar was working as a driver for an escort agency in Melbourne. During Australia's 2001 match against India he was stuck in a hotel with AC/DC.

Across the book, cricket is never far away, sometimes in the background and sometimes in the foreground of the important moments in his life. Zwar points out that most people can remember where they were when something significant happened, whether a cricket Test, an album release or the final episode of a television show, so readers do not need to follow the sport to connect with his stories.

The result mixes comedy, emotion and reflection, and it is written for general readers as well as cricket fans.