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“This book deserves to be AS BIG A HIT as the BLOW dealt a cricket ball on the BRIDGE OVER THE BOSPHORUS, propelling it from Europe into Asia” Daily Telegraph
“One of the FUNNIEST SPORTS BOOKS of RECENT TIMES” Yorkshire Evening Post
 CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON.CO.UK and SAVE 35% TODAY! Or HERE to be whisked to Amazon.com! WHOA! Batting on the Bosphorus has just been released in the US & Canada! Also out in the UK, Ireland, India, OZ and NZ now! (Published as BATTING IN THE BALTIC in South Africa). *AS READ ON BBC RADIO 4'S BOOK OF THE WEEK!*
 SCOTSMAN Angus Bell is innocently working for the MONTREAL MAFIA when a PSYCHIC tells him an infant ghost is feeding him ideas.
He's told he'll be leaving North America to embark on a travelling media project. When the words "CRICKET" and "UKRAINE" pop into his head, he uncovers a cricketing world across CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE.
From tournaments on ICE in ESTONIA to UNIVERSITY LEAGUES in the CRUMBLING CRIMEA; from a Croatian military island to communist BELARUS, Slavs are playing the Englishman's game. Angus sets off in his Škoda to SMACK THEM ALL FOR SIX.
 With FINGERLESS 'TAMIL TIGERS' in Prague, a bomb plotter in the Austrian Alps, mafiosos and an MI6 SECRET AGENT making the teamsheets, Angus soon discovers a shadowy side of Eastern European cricket.
He becomes the first man to hit a ball BETWEEN CONTINENTS, and ends up captain of an international team. Between games, he is pursued by KGB, becomes embroiled in a DRUG BUST on the MIDNIGHT EXPRESS and seeks emergency treatment from a ROMANIAN DENTIST.
His passengers include a GUATEMALAN ANARCHIST, a Ukrainian chicken and an Irish tobacco farmer who played cricket and rugby for Rhodesia.
 BATTING ON THE BOSPHORUS is a hilarious and unique traveller’s tale, taking the reader through BALKAN MINEFIELDS, BORDER BRIBES, and Sarajevo GRAVEYARDS at 2 a.m.
It redefines the SPIRIT OF CRICKET, and will make the game’s most sworn enemy a fan…
“VERY FUNNY. Dave Gorman meets Andrew Flintoff in clothes borrowed from Billy Connolly” Hugo Rifkind, THE TIMES
 “HIGHLY ENTERTAINING” Independent on Sunday *BOOK OF THE WEEK*
“BILL BRYSON meets JACK KEROUAC, peppered with JUDITH CHALMERS. What a dinner party!...PRICELESS!” All Out Cricket
“TRULY AMAZING” Birmingham Post
 The inaugural ICE CRICKET SIXES in Estonia, held in Tallinn's former SOVIET MISSILE FACTORY.
Did you know ESTONIA has the worst international cricket team in the world? At 105th in the rankings, they're a long way behind SIERRA LEONE (joint 51st with Switzerland) and Venezuela (76th – one behind Sweden), but this EU accession nation can hold its head high. Many, like North Korea, don't even make this prestigious list.
 To read more about the tournament in the US STUDENT TRAVELER, CLICK HERE.
To play ESTONIA on ice, visit http://www.balticadventures.co.uk/Ice-Cricket. Bring your spikes. It's like running on oiled glass. And expect to see FROSTING ON PADS, instead of sweat.
 The first YUGOSLAV NATIONAL TEAM, 1974. Within hours of Borut's (centre) return from a pen-pal exchange in Kent, the boys of MEZICA, aged 7-13, ditched football and began a series of dramatic TEST MATCHES in a meadow, spanning ten years...[CLICK HERE to read more]
They never wore pads because it slowed them down. All batted left-handed.
 An ALL-NATIVE, nearly-ALL-BROTHER line-up, including the youngest ever internationalist (age 13). The Slovaks consume plum brandy at drinks breaks, and the village mayor drives them to matches.
CLICK HERE to read more in The Wisden Cricketer...
NEW! CLICK HERE to see footage of this year’s Slovak Kriket Day!
 A PLAYBOY article sparked the rebirth of a team more than TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD.
Today, on the island of Vis, WINEMAKERS, FISHERMEN, and a DENTIST battle it out against a team of AIR-TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS from the mainland.
Their wicket is a concrete HELICOPTER LANDING PAD; their net, a FISHING CAGE on the docks. Bring your SPEEDOS if you want the BALL BACK.
CLICK HERE to read more in The Croatian Times.
 ACROSS CONTINENTS...
On the bridge above the BOSPHORUS, Mr. Mubashir Khan, the Istanbul captain, risks arrest to become the first man to be SMACKED from EUROPE into ASIA. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE DAILY RECORD].
BASEBALL BATS are among the biggest sellers in ISTANBUL, says Mr. Mubashir, but you won't find a team. They're only for BEATING people.
 In a city famous for the ANCIENT SPORT of SOCKBALL, journalist Milos (batting) sourced the TOP MARKSMAN in all of former Yugoslavia, a chemical engineer, a PSYCHOLOGIST, and a city official to get his country to the LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS.
CLICK HERE to read about their road to Olympic glory in The Wisden Cricketer....
 THE CRICKET AND KICKBOXING CLUB OF BULGARIA...
Turned from the DARK SIDE of baseball (and kickboxing), BULGARIAN CC stars celebrate their win over Sofia Medical Students. Whoa! SEE THE NEW BULGARIAN Cricket Video by CLICKING HERE!
 Stories of PROSTITUTE spectators and FIELDERS WITHOUT FINGERS abound in the Czech capital, Prague. It’s possibly the only cricket field in the world where GYPSIES ON HORSEBACK in the covers can stop play.
CLICK HERE to read about Czech cricket in the South African Sunday Times Travel and Food magazine…
 In a disused car park with HEAD-HIGH WEEDS, the Nepalese MEDICAL STUDENTS of Gomel dispute the toss.
1996-1997 were the GOLDEN YEARS of Belarusian cricket. They even published their own CRICKET MAGAZINE, which outsold Wisden Cricket Monthly and The Cricketer.
 “The DEFINITIVE BOOK about cricket in unlikely parts” Sunday Herald
“Bell's FUNNY, SURPRISING and occasionally SHOCKING ADVENTURES redefine the spirit of cricket” Sunday Sun
“EXTRAORDINARY...The FUNNIEST Borderer's book I HAVE ENCOUNTERED” Peter Clarke, The Southern Reporter
“A HILARIOUS, EASY READ, BURSTING WITH MANIC ENERGY AND YOUTHFUL EXUBERANCE. It is rich with dry humour and completely free of pretence...Between POLISH BROTHELS and a BOSNIAN MINEFIELD, he has produced a fine first book. I await his next with anticipation, ready to be knocked for six again.” Rory MacLean, The Guardian
 “VERY FUNNY” BBC RADIO LONDON
“SURREAL and SPLENDIDLY HUMOROUS” The Scotsman *Top Sport Books of 2006*
“TOP FIVE MUST-BUY CRICKET BOOKS OF THE YEAR” The Scottish Cricketer
“HUGELY ENTERTAINING” Spin Magazine *****5/5*****
“HILARIOUS” The Pink 'Un
“HUMOUR THAT SHINES THROUGH” South Wales Daily Post
“SLOGGING THE SLAVS takes cricket and SKEWS IT OUT of all RECOGNITION…A FUNNY AND QUIRKY TRAVELLER’S TALE” TNT Magazine
 “I challenge you to put this book down...EVEN IF YOU AREN'T INTERESTED IN CRICKET, BY THE TIME YOU'VE FINISHED YOU WILL BE. This is a beautifully written work that will have you LAUGHING OUT LOUD” Cricket World
“SERIOUSLY ENTERTAINING” Packed Magazine
“LAUGH OUT LOUD” The Crack Magazine *BOOK OF THE MONTH*
“WEIRD and WONDERFUL...One of the MADDEST, MOST ENTERPRISING CRICKET TOURS OF ALL TIME” Lawrence Booth, The Guardian
“One of the most BIZARRE SPORTING SAGAS committed to paper...MIND-BENDING...ENORMOUSLY ENTERTAINING... HILARIOUS” Lanark Gazette
 “A HILARIOUS journey filled with BONKERS characters, STRANGE locations, and, most of all, lots and lots of wickets” Boys Toys – BOOK OF THE MONTH – *****5/5*****
“WONDERFUL...a great story” About.com *****5/5***** See the review and interview here!
“UNIQUE and EXTRAORDINARY” The Australian Times
“For anyone who likes cricket, BOY’S OWN ADVENTURES, TRAVEL, ‘NEW EUROPE’, or just the WEIRD and the WONDERFUL, this book is a GREAT READ” Kent on Sunday
“BUY THIS BOOK. HE NEEDS THE MONEY” Angus's mum
 “WHETHER CRICKET IS YOUR THING OR NOT, Slogging The Slavs is as good a case of CULTURE COLLISIONS as you will probably read this year…Angus Bell has in some ways SHOVED TWO FINGERS up to the other notable Scottish roadtrip of the lat few years – Ewan McGregor’s LONG WAY ROUND. Because, quite simply, it’s better.” European Vibe Magazine *****5/5*****
“YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE a cricket fan to THOROUGHLY ENJOY enjoy this book…a THOROUGHLY ABSORBING, HILARIOUS, EXUBERANT ROMP through SOME VERY DODGY PLACES” Lovereading.co.uk
“VERY, VERY FUNNY” CBC Canada
“AT FIRST I THOUGHT this must be a book of fiction, but SOON REALISED that not even a collaboration between Raymond. E. Feist, Clive Barker and Ben Elton, could produce such a HILARIOUS MYSTIC ADVENTURE” CricketWeb.net
Get your copy NOW!! CLICK HERE to ORDER and SAVE 35%!
 The Scottish Art Council (www.scottisharts.org.uk), Canada Council for the Arts (www.canadacouncil.ca), Natwest, Island Crickit (www.islandcrickit.co.uk), Julian Tall and Baltic Adventures (http://www.balticadventures.co.uk/Ice-Cricket), les Crowins and La Cabosse d'Or (www.lacabossedor.com), John Barclay, Laura Garland and the MCC, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Malcolm Mckenzie, Sir Tim Rice, Richie Benaud, Richard Holdsworth and the European Cricket Council, Dave Bidini, Paul Daniels, James Mawson, and Lee Bailey...
 ...Jason Barry, Ed Craig and The Wisden Cricketer magazine, the British Embassies in Zagreb, Belgrade, Vilnius, and Budapest, Chris England, Stewart Ferris, Norman Drummond, Hugo Rifkind, Derek Pringle, Andre Louis, Stuart Archibald, Jerome Starkey and Andy Barr, Barry Hyland, Angus Wolfe-Murray, Susie O'Neil, Ann Smith, Sam Reid, Sir Dennis Landau, Jim Cumbes and Lancashire County Cricket Club, West of Scotland CC, Allan Lynch, Andy Searle, Mahendra Mapagunaratne, Tim Abraham, Simon Dardick, and, most importantly, the cricketers of central and Eastern Europe.
© 2004-2007 All rights reserved. Angus J. J. Bell.
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