Customer Reviews

Cricket Explained

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had the pleasure of catching two of the five days of an England test match against South Africa at the Oval during a recent holiday in London. As an American and an avid baseball fan, all I had ever heard of cricket was "boring", "incomprehensible" and, yet again, "boring". I found my two days at the Oval fascinating and was fortunate enough to not only have the patience to pay attention to the game during those two days, but also to stumble upon this great book at a bookstore on Fulham. I was even more fortunate to find the book between the two days I attended, read it from cover to cover, and have become a bit of a pest now to my American nonbelieving friends. Cricket is a great sport and if you want the quick and dirty, well here it is. From Googly to Howzhat, it's all here. Now I know enough to pester my Indian neighbors during the next test match. I wish I had this book last year during the World Cup. Great read.

This book is best suited to somebody who has witnessed some cricket without having a clue what was going on. The book is filled with answers to questions typical of the ones a novice might ask (why do they all wear white? don't they all get bored? who's WINNING???). Fun cartoons throughout. I understand that the UK edition of this book is called 'what is a googly?'.

Rob Eastaway wrote this book, "Cricket Explained" so that anybody, whether they have never seen cricket in their life, or if they have wondered for years why a bowler rubs the ball on his trousers, can fully understand and appreciate this incredible sport.

This is a great starter book for anyone interested in the great English pastime of cricket. This book explains the rules to you without confusing you with lots of weird terms. Cricket Explained also recommends places to see matches and what to bring. I think this is a wonderful book that teaches you without confusing you.

This is a great starter book for anyone interested in the great English pastime of cricket. This book explains the rules to you without confusing you with lots of weird terms. Cricket Explained also recommends places to see matches and what to bring. I think this is a wonderful book that teaches you without confusing you.

At last, Cricket explained in a truly readable and amusing style. Other books plod through the process like a food recipe. This books takes you on a journey. A fantastic companion for any sports enthusiast!

I caught the cricket bug recently, but didn't really know what the game was all about. This book covers play, rules and general information about the game in an entertaining manner.

Cricket, the most civilised of sports upon which mighty empires have been built. Who can resist the thwack of willow on leather, the sight of a well-delivered googly and the stomach-rumbling appeal of interval tea and cake?
The answer is many of my American friends, who mock this noble sport and titter at the terminology. This is a bit rich given that Tight End is not to them a description of a pert maiden but a position played in football: itself a most self-contradictory description given how little the foot actually meets the ball!

I suspect their mocking is merely a smokescreen put up to hide their ignorance (and therefore appreciation) of this, the sport of champions. To them, I commend this admirable tome as the obvious antidote. My only reservation is the wordiness of the explanation. By contrast, I was brought up having the rules explained to me thus:

"You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that is in the side that is in goes out, and when he is out he comes in and the next man goes in until he is out. When they are all out, the side that is out comes in and the side that is been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game."

This book can be both used as a reference and an introduction to Cricket. It explains some of the more difficult concepts and terms in a quick and easy-to-understand manner.

For years, my West Indies friends have said "Cricket is just like baseball" and I just couldn't get it. Mr. Eastaway does a fantastic job of explaining the terminology and the rules so that I can now watch a match and understand fully what's going on. Mostly I learned not to ask "why they call it that" because, as he says, for some words, there is no logical explanation.