A duo with local links will be appearing at Oxford Literary Festival on March 23 in Winning the Ashes: Living the Dream, in Fiction and in Fact.

Author Simon Rae, from Bampton, and England cricket captain Charlotte Edwards, who works as a coaching ambassador in state schools around Oxfordshire for Chance to Shine, will take part in a talk chaired by Matt Tench, deputy sports editor of The Sunday Times.

Simon Rae is award-winning author of the ‘definitive' biography W.G. Grace — A Life and has now turned to fiction. In Unplayable, his latest cricket book, schoolboy Tom Marlin discovers a mysterious power to bamboozle batsmen of any calibre. This takes him to the very top and a chance to win the Ashes.

We follow Marlin and his meteoric rise through the cricketing ranks. His journey involves danger, controversy, heart-break and heroics, culminating in the chance to help England win the Ashes.

With a lively pace and lots of energy, Tom faces such topical issues as bullying, parental pressure, paparazzi, and comic-book villains. And given that Marlin goes from knowing little of cricket to his heroic status, the reader learns about cricket as they read.

The book’s foreword is written by Ashes-winning captain and Chance to Shine ambassador, Mike Gatting, who describes the ‘ball of the century’ he faced from Shane Warne during the first Ashes Test in 1993 — his own experience of playing the unplayable.

Gatting says: “Unplayable is a great story that will appeal to anyone of any age, who has ever dreamed of coming to his country’s rescue against the old enemy . . .”

Charlotte Edwards MBE has lived the dream, as the captain of the all-conquering England women's team, and will be talking about her real-life experiences as a leading woman cricketer.

Charlotte led the team to success in World Cup, World Twenty20 and the Ashes last year. She is also helping to inspire the next generation of women cricketers in her role as Chance to Shine coaching ambassador in Oxfordshire.

Run by The Cricket Foundation charity, the Chance to Shine initiative aims to use cricket to educate thousands of boys and girls in a third of the country’s state schools.

n For more information visit the website: chancetoshine.org