Using contemporary accounts of W.G.'s greatest innings, many for the first time, Robert Low presents a radically new image of the sportsman who was recognised as the pre-eminent athlete of his day.From his emergence as a teenage prodigy to well past his fiftieth year W.G. dominated the game of cricket, taking 2,876 wickets and scoring 54,896 first-class runs in a career lasting an incredible 43 years, from 1865 to 1908. His beard and massive frame made him instantly recognisable wherever he went and his gamesmanship and wit were legendary.

A former Sports Editor of The Observer and a lifelong cricket-lover, Robert Low is the author of three books, including La Pasionaria: The Spanish Firebrand. He is now Deputy Editor of Reader's Digest. He is married to journalist Angela Levin.