John Hardman

More Than a Game - Part 1 Behind the Ashes John Hardman

More Than A Game ? Part 1 ? Behind The Ashes Synopsis It is 2035. The most anticipated Ashes cricket series between England and Australia is to begin in ten days time. The Australian squad arrives in London and is immediately the victim of a seemingly random bomb blast at the team?s hotel. An Aussie team member is killed and the captain, Andrew Harcourt, is slightly injured. The current England captain Kim Fairbanks, the first woman to play test cricket, and who has almost single-handedly dragged the British team from the depths of despair back to the top of the world rankings, and Harcourt, meet for the first time a few days after the bombing. Fairbanks? popularity is such that the crowds flock to every game in unprecedented numbers, and Harcourt?s determination keeps the series at fever pitch. As the series goes ahead a relationship between the two captains develops in secret. Kim is a divorcee with two young children and Andrew has been separated from his wife for some time. The Harcourt?s have a seven year old son. The British policeman investigating the incident at the hotel, Detective Inspector Shaw and a former French Secret Service agent, Yves Baschante, now a member of a covert international organization that specializes in such cases, discover that the man behind the attack is Erik Kahn, a notorious Pakistani bookmaker ? a man with a lot of money riding on the result of the series. They also discover that three members of the Australian touring party are in some way involved with Kahn. Shaw and Baschante, along with Kim?s father, Alistair Richards, a former S. A. S major, pursue Kahn and his cronies across Asia and set up a sting operation to take them into custody and bring them back to England ? outside of the normal legal system. The result of the Ashes series comes down to the final match at Lords and on the morning of the final day with the match up for grabs, a London newspaper exposes the ?Kim and Drew? affair. The pair have to deal with their own emotions while still doing their job, captaining their countries to victory. Kahn, his financial empire in ruins when he learns the result of the series, is finally caught and brought to justice, as are the three Australians.