Overview

From Mumbai and Lahore to the Highveld of the Transvaal and in his native Wales, Alan Wilkins is internationally known and admired as an accomplished sports broadcaster. Growing up as a talented young cricketer in 1970s Cardiff, Alan dreamt of a life in sport and yearned to travel the world but, as he reveals in Easier Said Than Done, he could never have imagined he would realise his dream via a microphone and television camera rather than with a bat and a ball. With great humility and humour, Alan Wilkins tells the fascinating story of how he swapped the life of a sports teacher for a career as a professional cricketer with Glamorgan and Gloucestershire - taking over 370 wickets and playing in the 1977 Gillette Cup final - and how it was brought to a devastating end in 1983 by a debilitating shoulder injury. Determined that his Life in Sport would not end after his enforced retirement from cricket, Alan vividly describes how, with determination and enthusiasm, he embarked on a new and successful career in sports broadcasting which has seen him commentate on many of the world's greatest sporting occasions - from Wimbledon to The Masters and from the Rugby World Cup to the Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League - and how he has forged lifelong friendships with many legends of the sporting world. Millions of sports fans know Alan Wilkins the broadcaster but now, with Easier Said Than Done, they can get to know the man behind the microphone, and the absorbing story of his Life in Sport.

Full Product Details

Author:   Alan Wilkins
Publisher:   St David's Press
Imprint:   St David's Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
ISBN:  

9781902719610

ISBN 10:   1902719611
Pages:   303
Publication Date:   12 July 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface by Vijay Amritraj Foreword by Sunil Gavaskar Introduction by Lynn Davies 1. Early Days 2. Loughborough, Eventually 3. Glamorgan New Boy 4. Home Truths 5. High Hopes on the Highveld 6. The Parting of Ways 7. Back to the Sun 8. Christmas in Calcutta 9. Reality Check 10. The Jacaranda City 11. The Beginning of the End 13. No Shoulder No Cry 14. Familiar Places, Friendly Faces 15. Back To The Future 16. Indian Hat-Trick 17. Wales Welcomes The Rugby World 18. Singapore Fling 19. Vijay 20. Never a Good Walk Spoiled 21. Stumps Appendix: For the Record - Selected Career Statistics Index

Reviews

`Alan was an excellent county cricketer ... He may be Cardiff born and Cardiff bred but, in a broadcasting sense, Alan is `a citizen of the world'.' Tony Lewis; `Easier Said Than Done reads the same way as our chats, so enjoy the book in the same way as I am fortunate to enjoy his friendship - with a warm smile!' Vijay Amritraj; `Alan Wilkins has to be the nicest man in broadcasting. There is nobody who is so gentle, so kind, so generous with his time and someone who laughs at himself as much as Wilko does.' Sunil Gavaskar; `Alan epitomises what sport is all about.' Clive Lloyd

Author Information

Alan Wilkins was born and raised in Cardiff and played county cricket for Glamorgan and Gloucestershire as a left-arm medium-pace bowler - with a career best 8 for 57 against Lancashire at Old Trafford - before a crippling shoulder injury ended his career in 1983. Turning adversity on its head he embarked upon a career in broadcasting that began in South Africa with the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), before returning to Cardiff in September 1987 to anchor BBC Wales' portfolio of prime time sports programmes. By the mid-1990s Alan had gone freelance and, following the end of apartheid, was reunited with the SABC to cover South Africa's return to world sport with the 1994 cricket tour to England and the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He also began what would become a long association with Singapore-based ESPN Star Sports (ESS) by commentating on the 1996 Indian cricket tour of England. By 1997 Alan had joined the ESS commentary team in India for the One Day International series between India and Sri Lanka where he was part of the commentary team, with Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Harsha Bhogle and Geoffrey Boycott, otherwise known as A Few Good Men. In February 2000 he re-located to Singapore to work for ESS and for almost 16 years enjoyed broadcasting cricket, golf, rugby, tennis and a host of other sports across the Indian sub-continent. A return home to Wales in 2015 has reignited Alan's love for rugby but as you'll read in Easier Said Than Done, his love of sport means the shape or size of the ball is not an issue.

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