SOME 17 years after unstrapping his pads for the final time, Rob 'Basher' Brain has returned with his cricketing swansong – Rich Wine Untold – his personal memoirs of playing for Lydney Cricket Club.

For as long as most can remember, Lydney have been the Forest's cricketing flag bearers.

For many of those seasons, Basher was the district's flag bearing batsman, scoring more than 40,000 runs, with some 40-50 centuries.

For anyone lucky enough to have watched Basher bat, this Labour of Love is much like one of his innings'; brutal at times with a fair bit of ego, but skilfully put together with some surprisingly subtle touches to boot.

So why write this book now?

Basher admits: "The motivation is quite simply the fact that I cannot stop thinking about the playing days when summers were ruled by the game. Nothing comes close to replacing them.

Judging by the conversations with many friends who, like me, partly live in the past, they have not found adequate replacements either. Perhaps we are all sad nostalgic obsessives and should get proper lives. But before we do, and before the memories fade away, this is my homage to everyone who has touched my cricketing life."

For the full story, read The Forester.