In the next episode of our virtual cricket talks, author Richard Clarke will join BBC cricket reporter Mark Church to talk about his new book, starting at 7.30pm this Friday.

For those wishing to attend, they can do so by clicking on this link, and further information can be found below, regarding the format and how to ask a question.

Last Wicket Stand is an honest account of one man's search for meaning, purpose and reinvention, both for himself and the sport he loves.

At the start of the 2020 season, English county cricket faced radical change. The Hundred was coming, introducing new 'franchises' playing a new format in the hope of attracting much-needed new audiences. Its inception was controversial.

Advocates argued only drastic action could halt the decline of cricket in the UK. Opponents feared it would undermine the very fabric of the much-loved county game.

One devoted Essex fan set out to document the last summer before the big change. He toured the country in 2019 chronicling this often-ignored sport, from the gentle lullaby of the County Championship to the bawdy singalong of T20 Finals Day.

📖 My new book is published on July 27

🏏 Last-Wicket Stand is about #countycricket and midlife.
🤔 Synopsis https://t.co/51fyf6cPeN

📚Published by the mighty @PitchPublishing
🇳🇱Foreword by the even mightier @rtendo27

— Mr Richard Clarke (@MrRichardClarke) June 8, 2020

Richard Clarke was in his 50th year, at a personal crossroads and fearing his best days may be long gone. Change vs tradition, growth vs security, money vs meaning - these perennial struggles lie at the heart of this absorbing and revealing journey of redemption.

He is well known to county cricket devotees by his Twitter alias @The_Grumbler. He started as a sports journalist on regional and national newspapers, then in 2002 became Arsenal FC's first website editor.

Richard led content strategy at the club until 2015 when he moved to the USA to work in Major League Soccer. On returning to England, he founded a sports digital consultancy working widely in South East Asia and the Middle East.

Richard's talk with Mark is our seventh virtual Q&A of the year, with five still to come, over the next three months, with the future talks every other Friday at 7.30pm, as follows 

21st August - England On This Day author Richard Murphy 

11th September - My Song Shall Be Cricket author Franklyn Stephenson hosted by Dave Bracegirdle 

25th September - The Hollow Crown: England Cricket Captains from 1945 to the Present author Mark Peel 

9th October - The Thin White Line: The Inside Story of Cricket's Greatest Fixing Scandal  author Nick Greenslade 

23rd October - Tales from the Frontline author Luke Fletcher hosted by Dave Bracegirdle 

To partake in the events, please contact your cricket society to be sent an invite, follow their social media channels, or check out our website and twitter channel, where we will share the link to the event. 

You can find contact details for your local cricket society on The Cricket Societies Association website.

The events can be accessed via a web browser (Chrome is recommended) or you can download Zoom's software or phone/tablet application.

To join each event will be very simple and straightforward: 

1. Click on the link provided by your society or as published on the Pitch Publishing website 
2. Enter your name and society
   EG: John Smith, Norfolk Cricket Society

Once the event begins you will be given access into the “room”. There will be a Q&A session, and to ask a question, you will need to use the raise hand option (located in the participants panel, at the bottom), and the host will open your camera and microphone and prompt your question.