In this episode of Stories behind Books, Mayukh Ghosh speaks to Stuart Rayner, author of the newly published Five Trophies and a Funeral.
Stuart Rayner was born in Scarborough to a cricket-loving mother. He considers himself fortunate for that. He grew up watching the likes of Botham, Gooch, Lara and Warne doing what they did best on that beautiful ground in Scarborough.
He always had a penchant for writing and when the opportunity came, he had very little to think when it came to the subject.
Rayner’s first book, ‘he War of the White Roses on Yorkshire’s cricket’s turbulent years during the 1970s and 1980s, was nominated as the 2016 ‘Book of the year’ by the Cricket Writers' Club.
His second book, this time on Durham CCC, has been published a couple of months ago.
When I asked him about the back-story, he was candid in his response:
“In 2005 I joined The Journal as a sportswriter and one of my jobs was covering Durham County Cricket Club. From 2009, when we merged newsrooms with the Chronicle and Sunday Sun, we began covering Durham’s County Championship away games, as well as matches at the Riverside. In 2015 The Journal and the Sunday Sun were joint winners of the ECB’s regional newspaper of the year award….
”Writing a book is an extremely big commitment – effectively a full-time job on top of the one I already had. So, when in late 2014 I decided to write a cricket book, I ignored the advice to write about Durham because I did not want to do something which was an extension of my day job.
“When, in 2017, I decided to write that book about Durham, the picture had changed. The Journal, Chronicle and Sunday Sun had stopped its cricket coverage and the financial meltdown at the Riverside in the autumn of 2016 meant there was a lot more to write about. As soon as that came about, I knew my next book would be on the subject of Durham and their travails, but I wanted to give it a little space to see how things would turn out. As it transpired, and by sheer luck, it was good timing, because Five Trophies and a Funeral came out at the start of a new era for Durham.
“Paul Collingwood, Geoff Cook, Jon Lewis and David Harker were all interviewed for the book, and in 2018 they left the club after a combined 98 years’ service, so Five Trophies and a Funeral chronicles an entire era of the club.”
What about the title ‘Five Trophies and a Funeral’?
“The title was my idea and I came up with it when I pitched the book in the autumn of 2017. I didn't want the book to be all doom and gloom, focusing just on the financial collapse, partly because there was more to the Durham story than that, and partly because some of the problems were tied up in the reasons for their success, so I wanted a title which reflected that.
“Then came the wait. I was always conscious that how Durham fared in 2018 might make the title strike the wrong chord. For starters, they have such a habit of winning trophies against the odds - just look at their 2013 Championship and 2014 One-Day Cup - that the "five" might have to change, and although the funeral in question was actually nothing to do with Durham, rather where I was when the post-meltdown punishment was handed out, I didn't think such a gloomy word would be appropriate if it proved a positive season, but it didn't really, and Five Trophies and a Funeral still felt right.”
Anything you’d have done differently if you’d get a chance to write it again?
“At this stage probably nothing. The last two chapters - about the 2018 season and the future - had to be tacked on at short notice during a time of great change, and maybe if there is another edition down the line they might be reworked, but for this point in time, writing a book before new coach James Franklin was appointed, I am reasonably happy with how I went about it. If I get some feedback to say I should have done it differently - and that is always welcome - I will reflect on that.”
Five Trophies and a Funeral has been published by Pitch Publishing.
It is priced at £19.99.
Probably not too much for a book definitely worth reading….