About the Author

David Townsend went to his first Test match at the age of six, became a freelance cricket writer two decades later and was Middlesex reporter for the telephone information service Cricketcall. During a 15-year career sub-editing sport at The Times, Daily Express and Observer, he was also Mike Gatting's ghost writer. DT began covering Ireland in 1994 and still writes for the Irish Independent while commentating on county cricket for the BBC.