Yorkshire Grit

"Illingworth a great all-rounder and a great all-round biography."

-- Mark Watkins * Dare Radio *

"This is one I would definitely recommend."

-- Steve Dolman * Peak Fan Blog *

"Peel, whose previous biographies include the likes of England's cricket captain Douglas Jardine and the politician Shirley Williams, knows his market and ,as such, the first reputable biography of Illingworth is a respectful work, a conventional and fair-minded run through his life which would have delighted the man himself."

-- David Hopps * The Cricketer *

"Mark Peel has done cricket lovers a favour with his balanced account of the different perspectives. The author has been nominated for less well-crafted books, and his publisher has served him well."

-- Douglas Miller * Association of Cricket Statisticians *

"In many ways the measure of the quality of a biography is how long it takes to read, and even if Yorkshire Grit hadn't arrived during a mini heatwave I have no doubt I would still have been unable to make it last more than two days. It is an excellent book and reminded me of many things that I had forgotten, and also made sense of aspects of Illingworth's life that I had previously struggled to put in their proper context... and there is a good selection of photographs and an index."

-- Martin Chandler * Cricketweb.net *

"Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, by Mark Peel and published by Pitch, is a splendid readable biography of the Yorkshire and England legend."

-- Chris Waters * Yorkshire Evening Post *

"Illy's remarkable career, loving told by master biographer Mark Peel."

-- Ken Piesse * Pavilion, the Australian Cricket Society Magazine *

"Mark Peel's engrossing Illingworth biography delves deep into Illingworth's many verbal jousts with team colleagues and officials, discusses his tactical skills, his abrasive character and achievements in a remarkable all-round cricketing career spanning more than 50 years."

* Sports Journalists Association *

"The best part of what is a very good book, concerns the Illingworth years of England captaincy."

-- John Symons * The Cricket Society *