Jim Allnatt retired to become a full time writer in 2006. His prime interest is cricket and he is still playing regularly in his 60s. He is a life member of the Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club and Archivist for the Auckland Cricket Association. He is currently working on the second book in his series on Auckland Cricket to be published in 2013. "**Auckland Cricket, 1901-45: The Middle Years** This book is the second in the series recording the history of Auckland cricket. As with the first one it focuses on what was happening in club cricket, how the representative side was doing and who were the people involved in running cricket. There are many more photographs available and therefore many illustrated pen pictures appear throughout the book. The story covers: the introduction of the District Scheme for club cricket, which was cricketers answer to the poor state of Auckland cricket at the turn of the century; the introduction of the Plunket Shield competition; the development of Eden Park; and the general growth of cricket as the years passed. During this half century a number of great Auckland cricketers came to the fore probably as a result of regular provincial cricket and recognition of New Zealand as a test playing nation. These are covered in the book as are match cards of each match along with a brief report." - from the author's website