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Cricket, Lovely Cricket?
Cricket, Lovely Cricket is a sports book with a difference. It is an original and engaging journey around the perennially curious world of cricket, leaving no metaphorical leg-break unturned and peering at the game from every conceivable angle. Written by Lawrence Booth, who had little option but to turn a youthful obsession with cricket into a means of paying the mortgage, it seeks to answer the questions that crop up on a daily basis but rarely receive a satisfactory answer. What are the players really like? What is the secret of sledging? Why get so worked up about the Ashes? Why all the clichés? And when will India take over the world?
Fittingly, for a sport that can last up to five days without a result, Cricket, Lovely Cricket is rambling but probing, humorous but insightful, sweeping but reflective. It is underpinned by the essential - and slightly frightening - truth that cricket does not actually matter at all, yet continually finds itself relating the game to the wider world. By examining what cricket tells us about the nations who spend vast chunks of their existence fretting over the fate of a small red ball, it attempts to get to the heart of a sport that seems more capable than any other of bewitching its followers.
Full of stories, observations, jokes and whimsy, this book is a captivating look at the way in which the game has become what it is today - and what, given a fair wind, it might be like in the future.
Fittingly, for a sport that can last up to five days without a result, Cricket, Lovely Cricket is rambling but probing, humorous but insightful, sweeping but reflective. It is underpinned by the essential - and slightly frightening - truth that cricket does not actually matter at all, yet continually finds itself relating the game to the wider world. By examining what cricket tells us about the nations who spend vast chunks of their existence fretting over the fate of a small red ball, it attempts to get to the heart of a sport that seems more capable than any other of bewitching its followers.
Full of stories, observations, jokes and whimsy, this book is a captivating look at the way in which the game has become what it is today - and what, given a fair wind, it might be like in the future.
- GenresNonfiction
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 21, 2008
2 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 7, 2015
This is a very good book in which Lawrence Booth gives thoughtful and very funny reflections on cricket past and present. He writes very well, with an easy, flowing and amusing style which has an excellent balance of real knowledge and insight with irony and self-deprecation. There's nothing shocking in the way of revelation here, but Booth does give some very engaging and thought-provoking perspectives on things like sledging, the various national psyches and the politics of the game.
It's not as consistently hilarious as, say, Fatty Batter or Rain Men - that's not the point of this book - but it does have several laugh-out-loud moments and a grin on most pages. He also has the grace to credit others for jokes and insights - like Vic Marks's description of a tedious, cliché-filled press conference by Inzamam-ul-Haq as "Much Urdu about nothing."
This is very readable, very knowledgeable, very interesting and very amusing. What more can you ask of a book about cricket? Very warmly recommended.
It's not as consistently hilarious as, say, Fatty Batter or Rain Men - that's not the point of this book - but it does have several laugh-out-loud moments and a grin on most pages. He also has the grace to credit others for jokes and insights - like Vic Marks's description of a tedious, cliché-filled press conference by Inzamam-ul-Haq as "Much Urdu about nothing."
This is very readable, very knowledgeable, very interesting and very amusing. What more can you ask of a book about cricket? Very warmly recommended.
March 6, 2024
Sometimes books like these without a main theme can meander a bit, or resort to lists in a bid to up the word count without needing to write anything interesting. There were patches of meandering, but this was almost list-free and all the better for it.
Booth had won me over already in his introduction, describing the need to see a ball being delivered as he passes a match on a train, which resonated with me albeit more as a car passenger. What followed were musings on cricket in general, its participants, and the future of the sport (although really, this was a ruse to talk about India). I did have to look back at the chapter headings because I struggle to remember much of it, instead I can recall its deeper vibe than Rain Men while still including humour.
Generally it was Booth's own thoughts and writing and anecdotes were used sparingly, while at the same time you got a small window into the life of a cricket journalist. One can also see why barely any papers have dedicated reporters for domestic cricket and even the ECB have opted for journalists reporting from multiple streams - there is little value in sending a journalist to watch 6 hours of cricket for an uninspring 150-word piece, well captured in his fictional example.
He also highlighted the differences between cricketers and journalists, which were relatively stark given the number of cricketers who become part of the press, and can broadly be categorised as cricket nerds and lads who happen to be good at cricket, some of whom later go on to have other normal professional careers.
I was completely unaware of this book before I came across it in a charity shop, and though it was written in the late noughties it hasn't aged particularly badly and nor does it feel out of date. I felt some thought had gone into it and it was a pleasant read that wasn't too dumbed down, it just didn't have anything too groundbreaking to make it a more memorable boook.
Booth had won me over already in his introduction, describing the need to see a ball being delivered as he passes a match on a train, which resonated with me albeit more as a car passenger. What followed were musings on cricket in general, its participants, and the future of the sport (although really, this was a ruse to talk about India). I did have to look back at the chapter headings because I struggle to remember much of it, instead I can recall its deeper vibe than Rain Men while still including humour.
Generally it was Booth's own thoughts and writing and anecdotes were used sparingly, while at the same time you got a small window into the life of a cricket journalist. One can also see why barely any papers have dedicated reporters for domestic cricket and even the ECB have opted for journalists reporting from multiple streams - there is little value in sending a journalist to watch 6 hours of cricket for an uninspring 150-word piece, well captured in his fictional example.
He also highlighted the differences between cricketers and journalists, which were relatively stark given the number of cricketers who become part of the press, and can broadly be categorised as cricket nerds and lads who happen to be good at cricket, some of whom later go on to have other normal professional careers.
I was completely unaware of this book before I came across it in a charity shop, and though it was written in the late noughties it hasn't aged particularly badly and nor does it feel out of date. I felt some thought had gone into it and it was a pleasant read that wasn't too dumbed down, it just didn't have anything too groundbreaking to make it a more memorable boook.
June 10, 2018
Superbly entertaining essays about the curious game of cricket and its endlessly fascinating cast of characters.
March 23, 2013
"The best thing about his bowling was that he wasn't batting" - Graham Gooch
"Never bet on anything with two legs" - Richie Benaud
Not for the uninitiated, but a light hearted, self effacing read for those who are.
November 13, 2014
A superb book by Booth. He understands the game from a fan's viewpoint and puts the points across as a journalist. Worth every minute you spend on the book
Currently reading
August 9, 2012Just getting started. Jokey start, but reviews are good so I'll keep going.
November 4, 2019
Lawerence Booth spins a magnificent web of fun, frolic and facts in this compelling book on the gentleman's game
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews