Steve Cannane - First Tests: Great Australian Cricketers and the Backyards That Made Them

Steve Cannane has been a journalist for more than 30 years, and the ABC's senior foreign correspondent in Europe since 2021. But aside from his important work, his passion is cricket - for decades, he charged in every Saturday as an opening bowler. And it was with his club side, watching a teammate's unorthodox batting technique, where a question was planted: how much do the childhood backyards of players influence what we eventually see at the top level? The answer was a beautiful and much-loved book, First Tests. Originally published in 2009, but just as relevant now, we revisit these stories as Steve prepares to return to Australia. Appropriately, given how much he's loved hanging out in Soho while living in London, it was in a pub in the heart of town where Adam and Daniel Norcross recorded this most fulfilling interview.

Get the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Tests-Australian-Cricketers-Backyards-ebook/dp/B004JHZ4ZQ

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Title track by Urthboy

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