For anyone who has attended a Cricket Society West of England meeting, Stephen Chalke is a familiar and much valued organiser and interviewer who has made many of the good and great former cricketers accessible to supporters. Names include David Gower, Jos Buttler, Hugh Morris and many others and it often amazes me how he manages to pick up so many big names regularly during the off season in Bath.

Those of us who know Stephen also recognise his distinct method for the afternoon. Guests are interviewed by Stephen and, needless to say, knowledgeably, thoroughly,the always politely and fairly. Mark Alleyne was one such guest and this in turn led later to the genesis of this book. It is not only a fascinating book but is written in Stephen's distinctive interviewing style with Mark's comments included verbatim.

It seems not so long ago that I remember reading of Mark spending a night on 99 awaiting his first first-class century. Okay, it was long ago because I seemed to remember, erroneously, that it was his debut but it still comes as a surprise to me to find that Mark is now in his late 50s. He has been a Gloucestershire stalwart since the 1980s and has done much for the county and is rightly a highly respected person at the club.

Pack Your Bags, Brother, so named as these were regular words from his older brother when they were looking for accommodation in their earlier days, is, as was suggested to me, an excellent book. Mark's comments, in conversation with Stephen, are both refreshing and honest and many show, to me, why he has become such a respected coach. Everything seems fair and he has a nice but rational view to life. There have been pitfalls along the way, especially the death of his elder brother, Stephen, who mentored Mark and was the one who was expected to make the grade as a professional cricketer.

The book naturally covers a wide time-span given Mark's long association with Gloucestershire so there is much of interest from different eras and how times have changed. Gloucestershire may not have won the County Championship but they will be long remembered for their renaissance in one-day cricket starting at the end of the last century and extending significantly into almost the first half of the new millennium's first decade. Mark was the captain and can rightly be praised for elevating his side to the Glorious Glosters status. Their one-day record beforehand was not special and times may not have been so good since although they can still point to further silverware and are often there or thereabouts. It is nice reading about and having a record about maybe some of the county's unsung players as well as the quirks of others, most notably and possibly inevitably, Jack Russell.

In conclusion, this has been one of the most enjoyable books which I have read and I wish Stephen, Mark and Fairfield Books every success with it.