-An intricate and colourful story of deception beautifully rendered. As a portrait of the idiosyncrasies of English cricket, Cometh the uan is a Chinese cut above the rest.- - The Guardian They said it could never happen. They said such a national treasure would never be allowed to fall into China's insatiable grasping clutches. And anyway, they said, what could China possibly want with the spiritual home of the game of cricket? Retribution, said some. Lord's Cricket Ground owes its eighteenth century origins to fortunes made from getting the Chinese hooked on opium and now it's payback time....

On reaching that time of life when he finally had a choice, Mark Newham had no hesitation. No more winters for him. Escaping somewhere warmer and sunnier for the worst months of the year was now standard winter operating procedure. Every year. For the entire winter. For the rest of his life. The only question was where. It had to be a place that ticked all the boxes as a winter refuge he could happily flee to year after year without breaking the bank. After a lifetime on the road as an international journalist Newham already had a long list of candidates. Places he'd either already...