The Greater English Novel - Leon Clarke Within the bowels of Yorkshire lies the small town of Skipperton. A town where the baker and candlestick maker live side by side, where everyone is on first name terms, and coffee, Lancashire and The South are words best not mentioned. The town boasts a cricket team that is currently on a four year winning streak, but unfortunately their last defeat, against a team from the other side of The Pennines no less, still haunts the players daily. When Harold Baker, the team's Skipper and town Tea Tsar, goes to visit the newly appointed Vicar for advice, he is met by a rather peculiar piece of news. God, through The Vicar, has announced that the team must embark upon a grand, old fashioned, six month tour culminating in a game against an Indian side that shares a similar record. Collecting a team of players who have never travelled further than the bottom of the M1 and take holidays in Hull, Harold must lead them east and into the 21st century through countries that no longer belong to the USSR. Back in Skipperton, meanwhile, The Vicar, Cuthbert Johnson, may not have received the idea of the tour directly from The Lord. The errand may have had something to do with Rachel, Harold's gorgeous, and rather sultry, young wife. She isn't all Cuthbert has on his plate though, because as a foreigner he's not entirely trusted by Skipperton's political hierarchy, and with good reason. He has plans, big plans, and so he should have, when there are miracles following him around.