Read as part of the sport reading journey
This is Ed Smith’s personal account of the
2003 cricket season. Written in diary form it gives an insight into the life of
a ‘county pro’ in English cricket; in his case of a batsman at a crucial
juncture in his career. At age 26, having been a bit of a prodigy for Cambridge
University, he is established in the Kent team and in contention for a place in
the Test Matches against the touring South Africans.
His diary entries concern his preparation,
performance and post-match feelings; sometimes brief and pithy, sometimes deeply
reflective and technical, as he searches for the frame of mind and physical
adjustments that will produce the sportsman’s holy grail of “form”.
Smith got a double first at Cambridge and is
now part of the revered Test Match Special commentary team so he writes both
well and accessibly. It’s not thrill a minute, but cricket rarely is, and the
periods of introspection outnumber the occasional but real emotional highs. But
it is an honest book that concentrates on the sport without distractions of
celebrity tittle tattle that can mar some sporting memoirs.
I like cricket with its elemental one-on-one
battle between bowler and batsman. Where some people see dull, I see
attritional; for me the meaningless draw can contain a myriad of meaningful
performances. More than any other sport, the taking part in the game is as
important as the result. This may be because luck plays such a big part – the toss
to decide who bats first, the changing weather, the variable bounce in the
wicket, the edged four, and the freakish run-out can all decide a match as much
as the skill of the players; so much importance is given to how you deal with
what fate hands you.
Notably Smith’s latest book “Luck” deals with this phenomenon
in life as well as sport.
I haven’t read that one but I certainly
recommend this one for cricket fans or anyone interested in sporting
performance generally.
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