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More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years

Author: John Major
Publisher: HarperPerennial
Category: Book

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Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars

8 reviews
Sales Rank: 37889

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.3

ISBN: 0007183658
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.35809
EAN: 9780007183654
ASIN: 0007183658

Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Unwanted gift. Never opened so in new condition. Immediate despatch from the UK.

Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years

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Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Not quite as good as expected July 20, 2008
The quality of the research and the insight and love of cricket are evident, you can almost hear for better or worse John speaking when reading it. I did enjoy the book but feel some sections were a bit of a slog. This is mainly due to the organisation and editing. The book is not a chronological history but instead discrete chapters e.g The Missionry.., Round Arm rebellion. I was struggling after to reconstruct in my mind when all events took place across the book. It also can lead to some jumping around. One paragrpah 1870 the next 1900 with no date reference. It just makes the big picture harder to picture and it can also seem like repetition.

4 out of 5 stars

Surprisingly good May 26, 2008
Anyone who read John Major's autobiography and found parts of it a little stodgy and hard going will be pleasantly surprised at the light touch he shows here.

He traces the early history of cricket, concentrating on the personalities, but also placing them into the wider context to show how social change in the country (and world) at large was reflected in cricket.

There are times when he seems to have half an eye on the assiduously pedantic cricket statistician and goes to great lengths to "show his workings" in order to back up what he is saying, but the book is shot through with a great sense of the author's enthusiasm.

5 out of 5 stars

And not a jelly bean in sight...... May 16, 2008
The point of this book is that no-one is really sure where cricket began. It is largely accepted to have started in a recognisable form in the early eighteenth century and from then it has been constantly metamorphisizing into the game we know and love. Before I read this I had never heard of "single wicket" cricket, played until the mid-19th Century but it would be intriguing to see such a match today between, say Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Symonds. Some of the facets of the game taken for granted today took years of controversey to develop: overarm bowling, leg pads (allowed only after one player suffered horrendous leg injuries) and three-stump wickets. Some of the characters are given, sometimes lengthy, pen-portraits: WG Grace, Fry, Trumper obviously, but also some the early pioneers, Mynn, Felix, Beldham and "Lumpy" Stevens. The early administrators of the game probably wouldn't look out of place in the MCC today, Lords Harris and Hawke being both paternalistic and dictatorial at the same time. This really is a page tuner for anyone interested in the game and an absolute must for anyone disenchanted with the current fashion for cheerleaders, rock music and sledging which has destroyed so much of the game's appeal.

5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable December 24, 2007
Very Enjoyable purchase! I enjoyed reading this, even if the plot's somewhat rushed. Although there's a feeling that the text is there simply to fill up the spaces between the illustrations, there are enough laugh out loud moments and classic Pratchett twists to make it work.

3 out of 5 stars

Affectionate, but rambling November 28, 2007
I picked this book off the shelf more out of curiosity about the author (of whom I am an admirer) than for any special love or knowledge of cricket - and then found myself immersed in the history of the game. The book is full of amusing anecdotes and interesting insights, and I felt I got right inside Sir John Major's mind. But the book could have done with a firmer hand on the editing, in my opinion. It is rather rambling and self indulgent in places, and there were definitely places where some trimming would have been beneficial.