Pack Your Bags, Brother : The cricketing journey of Mark Alleyne

Mark Alleyne was one of the most successful captains in the history of countycricket, leading the little-fancied Gloucestershire to seven trophies in sixyears.Now he has returned to Gloucestershire as Head Coach, the county winninga further trophy in his first year back. Here in Pack yourBags, Brother he talks about his life and shares the story of thosesuccesses: from his formative years in Barbados and the ground-breakingHaringey Cricket College to becoming Gloucestershire’s youngest centurion andleading the county in those golden years. Along the way we learnof the onerous duties of a twelfth man servicing the eccentric Jack Russell’sneeds, the shock of a prison sentence in Kenya, the experience of captaining anEngland ‘A’ tour in the Caribbean and the emotions of scoring a century in thefirst Cup triumph at Lord’s. Then, as his career moves into coaching, we get a parent’saccount of his son Max’s progress from Coalpit Heath Under-7s to England’sUnder-21 football team. A deep thinker,interested in sports psychology, he reflects on his life story, the charactershe has known, the nature of successful teamwork and the way the game haschanged in the forty years since his county debut: the growing role of thecoach and the impact of franchise cricket. It is an uplifting anda thought-provoking story, rich with the humanity and wisdom of a special andmost popular cricketer.