Slogging the Slavs Synopsis
On the advice of a Canadian psychic, Scotsman Angus Bell sets off in a Skoda to uncover a cricketing world across Central and Eastern Europe. From tournaments on ice in Estonia to university leagues in the crumbling Crimea; from a Croatian military island to communist Belarus, Slavs are playing the Englishman’s game.
With fingerless “Tamil Tigers” in Prague, a bomb plotter in the Austrian Alps, Mafiosos and an MI6 agent making the teamsheets, 24- year-old Angus soon discovers the shadowy side of Slavic cricket. He becomes the first man to hit a ball between continents, and ends up captain of an international team. Between games, he is pursued by KGB and seeks emergency treatment from a Romanian dentist. His passengers include a Guatemalan anarchist, a Ukrainian chicken, and an Irish tobacco farmer.
Slogging the Slavs is a unique traveller’s tale, taking the reader 8,000 miles through Turkish drug busts, border bribes and Sarajevo graveyards. It redefines the spirit of cricket, and will make the game’s most sworn enemy a fan.
