Turning Over the Pebbles: A Life in Cricket and in the Mind

‘If you go on like this, you’ll do nothing but play cricket all your life.’

These were the exasperated words of Mike Brearley’s mother, as he once again tracked mud into the house after a long day playing outdoors. They were also an unknowing prediction, for Brearley’s is a life that has always been closely intertwined with cricket.

One of England’s finest cricket captains, Mike Brearley looks back on a lifetime of the sport, from joyful childhood games to his captaincy in the 1981 Ashes home series, leading England to one of their most famous victories. A trained psychoanalyst, Brearley seamlessly blends reflection on his sporting life with introspections on literature, religion and leadership, reflecting on his experiences both on and off the field.

Intelligent and insightful, Turning Over the Pebbles is a memoir brimming with Brearley’s private passions, as he reflects on an extraordinary life and career.

‘Brearley has a gentle, measured intellect that is warming and intriguing rather than intimidating or irritating … Brearley has a rare ability to read the game and its participants with delicacy and precision, like a tailor unpicking a collection of knotted threads’ Wisden Cricket Monthly