The Test : a novel

A SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2018'Engaging and enjoyable . . . as probing and as penetrative as a Jimmy Anderson opening spell . . . This is no ordinary novel by no ordinary novelist' Sunday Times'A fine addition to the painfully thin oeuvre of modern fictional works about cricket' Mike Atherton, The Times'Outstanding' Mail on Sunday'If all you know is cricket, then cricket will break you . . .'It is the final Test match of The Ashes. A nation expects, and the rest of the cricketing world is watching. Fast-paced, humorous and candid, The Test follows the battles on and off the field as stand-in England captain, James McCall, tries to get his exhausted team across the finish line.

Along the way, his story becomes one of fatherhood, friendship and trusting yourself when no one else will. Nathan Leamon's love letter to Test cricket is that rare thing: a novel that captures the feel and flavour of professional sport from the inside - the good, the bad and the simply surreal. Not since J. L. Carr's classic A Season in Sinji has there been a novel that quite captures the spirit of the game.