Cricket For Dummies [Paperback]

Julian Knight (Author), Steve Bull (Foreword), Gary Palmer (Consultant Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 6, 2007

Whether you’re a weekend cricketer or aspiring armchair expert, Cricket For Dummies helps you make sense of this fascinating sport. Not just a jargon busting guide to cricket’s laws, techniques and tactics, it also contains advice on kitting yourself out and provides lessons on playing the game and improving your batting, bowling and fielding skills. For the budding fan, there’s a guide to the greatest players, the memorable matches, and a tour through the cricketing scene – both domestic and international – giving you the knowledge you need to fully appreciate this special game.

This book has been updated for the Ashes 2009, featuring revised information on new players, the Indian premier league, Stanford 20:20 and the latest coverage of past and future competitions.

Julian Knight is a BBC journalist, writer, and cricket enthusiast. He is a former youth coach and captain, and has been a club cricketer for over 20 years.
Consultant Editor Gary Palmer played first class cricket for ten years with Somerset before becoming a professional coach.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A jargon-busting, comprehensive guide to cricket." (Cricket World, November 2006)

From the Back Cover

Includes a diagram of fielding positions for easy reference

A complete guide to cricket for players and fans

Whether you're a budding player or aspiring armchair expert, Cricket For Dummies will help you get to grips with this fascinating sport. Inside you'll find an outline of the game's laws plus in-depth advice on improving your playing techniques and tactics. You'll also discover the tournaments, global rivalries, and great players that make today's game so compelling.

Discover how to

• Master cricket's basic rules
• Hone your playing skills
• Devise winning tactics as a player and a team
• Coach your children to play
• Follow every format of the game – from Twenty20 to Tests

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (February 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470034548
• ISBN-13: 978-0470034545
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #540,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Other Team Sports > Cricket

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Depends what you were hoping for, January 25, 2008

By 

Alexis Johnson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cricket For Dummies (Paperback)

I was a bit disappointed in this book because I was hoping to learn about cricket so that I could better understand when I am watching a match. About half this book is spent on tips on how to play and practice cricket.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not dummy enough, May 21, 2008

By 

Karl Pallmeyer (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cricket For Dummies (Paperback)

While the author attempts to dumb down the rules of the game, it's obvious that the book is written by an Englishman for Britons, or those who have had at least some experience with cricket. (I live in Texas, and the only crickets I know are those noisy bugs or Buddy Holly's band.)

Some concepts are never fully explained, while others are covered in minute detail. For example, the batting section goes on and on, with numerous illustrations, while the section on bowling is comparatively brief. We could really use a step-by-step -- with pictures -- examination of the basic bowling process and less on different techniques.

Also, the book focuses too much on playing and coaching the game. I'd much rather read more about the history of cricket. The section on cricket controversies and great players is nice, but way too short.

Finally, while Mr. Knight's enthusiasm for the game is obvious, alas, his jokes are pretty lame.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reference for US cricket enthusiasts, May 26, 2007

By 

David Webb "closet Cricket lover" (Shreveport, La USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cricket For Dummies (Paperback)

I fell in love with Cricket while deployed to Diego Garcia several years ago. We watched Cricket matches broadcast to on South African satellite TV. For anyone who hasn't a clue what the game is all about, this book is a FABULOUS read. Though most of the references to teams and County Cricket are obviously more meaningful to British readers, the level of detail and explanation is great for US fans. Breakdowns on the fielding, bowling, and batting aspects of the game flow smoothly and are extremely easy to follow. The history and current state of the game sections give you a real feel for just how very large Cricket is in the rest of the world and makes my sorry we can't embrace what is really the most civilized of sporting events still being played. (What 300 pound lineman would be caught dead taking "Drinks" or the "Tea Interval" at halftime at the Super Bowl?!) Pick up a copy and get a good handle on the great game that we turned into baseball!