Mike Procter and Cricket by Mike Procter & Patrick Murphy

Mike Procter and Cricket (Collectible 1981 Cricketer's Autobiography in Dust Jacket)

The Autobiography of South Africa's Great All-Rounder and Gloucestershire Captain, in Its Original Dust Jacket

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Mike Procter and Cricket
• Authors: Mike Procter & Patrick Murphy
• Publisher: Pelham Books, London
• Publication Date: 1981
• ISBN-10: 0720713269
• Edition Details: First Edition (Pelham Books, London, 1981).
• Binding: Publisher's orange-brown cloth boards, plain and unlettered, with illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo (8vo) hardcover, illustrated with black-and-white photographic plates.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The orange-brown cloth boards are clean and unmarked, with a plain, unlettered finish. The cream spine of the jacket is clean and bright.
• Interior: The pages are clean, cream and free of visible foxing or marks. The top edge shows a slightly uneven trim, as issued. There is a slight ripple or crease to one page in the text. The black-and-white photographic plates are clean. No inscriptions, stamps or ex-library marks.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The glossy jacket carries a colour photographic portrait of Procter on the front and a black-and-white photograph on the back. It is bright with no obvious tears, with light scuffs or scratches to the back panel. Protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published by Pelham Books of London in 1981, Mike Procter and Cricket is the autobiography of one of South Africa's finest all-rounders, written with Patrick Murphy. It follows his career through Test cricket, his years in English county cricket and his involvement with World Series Cricket.

Procter played seven Tests, all against Australia, between 1967 and 1970, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970. His career was shaped by South Africa's years of isolation, and much of his best-remembered cricket was played for Gloucestershire, whom he captained from 1977 to 1981, the year this book appeared.

An illustrated volume with a good run of photographic plates, it will appeal to collectors of cricket literature and South African sporting history who want a clean copy in its original jacket.

Author Profile: Mike Procter

Michael John Procter was born in Durban on 15 September 1946 and died on 17 February 2024. He played seven Tests for South Africa, all against Australia, between 1967 and 1970, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1970. In a first-class career of 401 appearances he took 1,417 wickets and scored 21,936 runs.

He captained Gloucestershire from 1977 to 1981. His other books include Mike Procter: Cricket Buccaneer (1974), South Africa: Years of Isolation and the Return to International Cricket (1994, written with Patrick Murphy) and Caught in the Middle (2017, with Lungani Zama).