Former ‘East Anglian Daily Times’ and ‘Ipswich Star’ writer, Neal Manning, has produced a wonderful book on well-known local cricket star, John Stuck, in time for Christmas, entitled ‘Stuck in the Middle.’.

Now in his 70s, John continues to rattle up runs at an impressive rate on the veteran stage.

The book begins with quotes from some distinguished characters on the cricket scene, including former England and Essex spin bowler Robin Hobbs, manager and former captain of the Two Counties senior team, Geoff Newman, and Clacton CC stalwart Gary Kirk.

John started playing club cricket back in 1962, and by the end of last summer he had celebrated scoring 200 centuries, a notable achievement.

He played Minor Counties cricket for Suffolk, and later compiled many big innings for his country at over-60s and over-70s level.

In fact, John is a double international, having played badminton as well as his beloved cricket for England.

Although born in Suffolk, John has spent most of his life living in Essex, which has been good news for Clacton Cricket Club.

John has scored more than 43,000 runs for Clacton, while his career total goes beyond the 100,000 mark, a mind-boggling total.

And he shows no signs of stopping just yet!

This fascinating book includes separate chapters on his Suffolk days, club cricket, seniors cricket, international exploits, and his experiences of being a Premier League umpire, badminton international and on his local football career.

It ends with a section on John’s impressive cricketing statistics, in which all his centuries are charted.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of this book should contact John Stuck himself via e-mail at john.stuck@tiscali.co.uk