About the Author

Mark Peel has written 15 books including England Expects: A Biography of Ken Barrington (winner of the 1993 Cricket Society Literary Award), Ambassadors of Goodwill (shortlisted for the MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year 2018), Playing the Game (shortlisted for the Daily Telegraph Cricket Book of the Year 2018), The Life of Douglas Jardine (shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2021) and Gilly: The Turbulent Life of Roy Gilchrist.

Reviews

"Illingworth a great all-rounder and a great all-round biography."
*Dare Radio*

"This is one I would definitely recommend."
*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."
*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."
*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."
*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."
*Yorkshire Evening Post*

"Illy’s remarkable career, loving told by master biographer Mark Peel."
*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."
*The Cricket Society*