established a friendship with Pratap Singh, the regent of Jodhpur, whom he later falsely described as his uncle. Ranjitsinhji decided to return to India to further his case, prompted by the decision of Vibhaji's grandson Lakhuba to dispute the succession. Meanwhile, the financial expectations of behaving as a prince pushed Ranjitsinhji even further into debt, and his allowance had been stopped after he had been given an advance on it to cover earlier money owed. He wrote to Willoughby Kennedy, the English Administrator of Nawanagar, asking for money but none was forthcoming. His financial situation eased when a serious illness confined him to the house of an acquaintance. He took the opportunity to begin work on a cricket book which a publisher had invited him to write; Ranjitsinhji contributed seven chapters and other writers contributed the rest, then he and Fry revised the book together while travelling through Europe in the spring of 1897. The book was released in August 1897 under the title The Jubilee Book of Cricket, and was a success, both commercially and with the critics: the review by Francis Thompson was entitled, "A Prince of India on the Prince of Games". Nevertheless, he was approaching bankruptcy by the end of 1897 and there are indications, such as an increased temper, that he felt the pressure. Having been named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year for his performances in 1896, Ranjitsinhji began the 1897 season strongly, scoring 260 for Sussex against the MCC then, playing for MCC against Lancashire hit 157. A succession of low scores on a series of difficult pitches ended when he scored three centuries in July, but in the remainder of the season he only once passed fifty. He scored 1,940 runs at 45.12, figures which matched other leading batsmen, but his relative loss of form, noted by critics, was owed partly to ill health. He suffered from asthma throughout the season, and some commentators blamed the stress of producing his book. However, he may also have been distracted by his interest in the Nawanagar succession. Tour of Australia Ranjitsinhji was chosen to tour Australia with Andrew Stoddart's team during the winter of 1897–98. The team was defeated 4–1 by Australia, who were superior tactically and had the better players in general. Ranjitsinhji was one of the few successes on the tour and scored 1,157 runs in first-class matches at an