James Sep 13, 2017

really liked it bookshelves: sports, cricket

Read 2 times. Last read September 3, 2017 to September 12, 2017. 's review

I’ve never read a book that so shamelessly and self indulgently wallows in more sentimental, wistful nostalgia, and for any cricket fan it is for the most part an absolute pleasure to read. The Author admits from the outset that he is a cricket purist, looking upon Twenty20 with the sort of contempt that would be held by a professional basketball player for netball. And I agree, Twenty20 is cricket for a generation diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, and have been force fed Ritalin. Twenty20 is a format of cricket that doesn’t interfere with you playing Cookie Jam. In short, I don’t like Twenty20.



The author is however a far more reasonable, and balanced man than myself, this is probably why he writes books and I write shit on the internet, but each of us have our cross to bear. Hamilton points out that cricket is a game that has always been evolving, and as such the newest format of the game, Tweny20 just fits in perfectly with its history.



Hamilton spends a summer travelling around England and Wales, looking at all levels of cricket, from village cricket, the Lancashire League, the County Championship, all the way up to a day at an Ashes Test match, and at every opportunity successfully capturing all the reasons why there is so much more to cricket than a bat, and a ball, taking wickets, or scoring runs. As Lord Harris once wrote:



“You would do well to love it. It is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonourable, than any game in the world. To play it keenly, honourably, generously, self-sacrificing is a moral lesson in itself … protect it from anything that would sully it, so that it may grow in favour with all men.”

