Michael O’Leary’s NZ cricket novel republished

February sees the paperback re-release of Michael O’Leary’s cult 1980s cricket novel Out of It. The novel, which is possibly the only literary cricket novel published in New Zealand, features the beige New Zealand one-day side of the 1986/87 season and is a satirical celebration of that period.

In the book, the New Zealand team plays on Eden Park, Auckland, against an international invitation Out of It XI, featuring famous rock stars, writers and artists. It’s a good, light read with the likes of Bob Marley clean bowled by Martin Crowe and Hadlee cleaning out the Out of It middle order of Oscar Wilde, Alfred Jarry and Lord Byron with a hat trick.

The new edition is published by my publishing company HeadworX and features a cover image by Iain Sharp after an 1895 illustration of the great English cricketer W G Grace printed in the year of Oscar Wilde’s court trial and fall from grace. O’Leary’s company Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop first published Out of It in 1987.

I’ve also written on O’Leary’s novel and interviewed the author on this blog at various times. Check out the following blog entries for further information on the book:

Michael O’Leary’s cricket novel to be reprinted

Michael O’Leary’s Maori cricket poem

Michael O'Leary's cricket novel republished (e-book version)

An interview with cricket novelist Michael O’Leary

The novel is currently on sale at the New Zealand Cricket Museum at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Price $20.00.

Out of It: A Novel Cricket Novel
(HeadworX: Wellington, 2012)