In a cricket mad house this Christmas there were bound to be a few cricket related books changing hands. Books by Flintoff and Botham were given to my mother and I received Graeme Swann’s autobiography, The Breaks are Off, and Australian Autopsy by Jarrod Kimber. I thought it only fair to give a brief review of each book.
Swann’s book is a good read, the fun loving England spinner has a fantastic sense of humour and some great stories to tell. I’m already well into it and enjoying what Swann has to say about his early experiences with the England team, his move from his beloved Northamptonshire to Nottinghamshire and how it greatly improved his career. Swann also shares some fantastic stories about his alcohol fuelled exploits with other players, including Flintoff. Any fan of Swann’s video diaries from last years Ashes in Australia, will enjoy the book, so I recommend it.
The second book, Australian Autopsy, is by Australian cricket journalist, blogger and Sehwagologist Jrod. His blog cricketwithballs, offers a rather comic look at cricketing news. It’s interesting to read about the 2010/11 Ashes from an Australian perspective, but especially a perspective as unique as Jrod’s. He begins by comparing the series to an imagined ‘Melrose Place’ storyline, where an older brother is constantly beating his young brother all shades of black and blue, before the young brother goes away, shaves his head, joins the marines, toughens up and comes back out for revenge. One night, he confronts his brother, whose muscle has mostly turned to flab, in a bar, and beats him to a pulp, which he beats into a fine dust. He then gets up and does the sprinkler…
If you are after a cricketing read, something that is both interesting and amusing, then I definitely recommend these two books and I’d like to thank my parents and my cousin for buying them for me. Another good cricketing read is Trescothick’s Coming Back to Me, which includes a description of the circumstances that led to him pulling out of the 06/07 Ashes series with depression and his later retirement from international cricket. Jonathan Agnew’s tribute to the late TMS commentator Brian Johnston, Thanks Johnners, is also an entertaining and interesting read.
As the New Year dawns and I begin work on my dissertation I doubt I will have much time over the next few months for cricket related reading. Instead I will focus on my New Years resolution of ‘learn to bat’, which will hopefully take off soon when nets begin. I don’t think reading will help me that much with that one… Not sure there’s a power in the ‘verse that can help me with that one…
