Cricket Maiden

Match fixing in cricket has plagued the noble game as long as it has ever existed. Lady
Andalusia, a gorgeous lass, from the erstwhile British Empire in 1810, was set to marry
the dashing batsman Hughie Dawson. But fate had other ideas.
Fast forward to 2010. Twenty Twenty Cricket, fast and exciting, and with its exorbitant
riches, threatens the longer and purest form of the game, the five day Test Match, from
its very existence. With billions of dollars in marketing and TV rights, a three match
20/20 series in London is scheduled by the billionaire descendants of Hughie Dawson.
Experimental in nature, it features a Professional cricketers XI against an International
selection of amateurs from each of the 10 Test playing nations. But the Coach is found
mysteriously murdered after the first game, and the Amateurs XI lose their form. The
obvious suspects are the match fixers - who were seen approaching the Amateurs XI
star batsman Amay Indulkar. But are they the real culprits? What about the gigantic
spectre of a strangler? And of the tears rolling down the cheeks of a Bollywood actress?
The search for a magic bat, that disappeared in 1810, bestowed with divine powers,
which scores runs at will, is on. It takes detective Landon Beau and Nigel Harrison, to
the Indian subcontinent, to recover it. Through the romance between Landon and his
new flame, Amelia Kanowski, the series reaches a thrilling conclusion at Lords. Landon,
captains the Amateurs XI, and with the help of the mysterious but elusive Lucy, finds the
magic bat, and soon enough later solves the crime. This is the story of romance, of the
enormous wealth and popularity of Twenty Twenty cricket, of faith and toil, Bollywood,
the thrills and spills of limited overs cricket, crime, match-fixing, and the very spirit of
the game.