Product Description

In summer 2009, by far the most popular event in the cricketing calendar comes round again - the Ashes series between England and Australia. The anticipation will be intense, the hype absurd, the sense of expectation never remotely likely to be satisfied, for two good reasons. England won in 2005 by a whisker. We can't expect anything so good again, possibly for the rest of our lives. The second reason is even more brutally realistic. For the truth is that, over the past twenty years at least, Australia have usually won very easily. We begin with hope, we end in despair. For the many of us who follow English cricket closely, it's a strange and terrible form of biennial punishment for crimes we didn't know we had committed. 'Hell is other people,' said Jean-Paul Sartre, and as so often he was completely wrong. Hell is Ricky Ponting winning the toss on a perfect batting strip on a glorious sunny day. Hell is what happened in Australia in 2007, when the home side won 5-0. Of course we look forward to 2009. But we also dread it, as we would dread exams or major surgery. We would be foolish to do otherwise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54304 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
`Did Berkmann waste his time watching all those Ashes games? This lovely book is proof he did not' Daily Mail --Daily Mail

`By far the best gentle, bleakly comic take on the series' Observer --Observer

`Gripping . . . If not ball by ball then certainly blow by blow, and a wonderful tale it is too . . . Very perceptive and funny' Literary Review --Literary Review

`The book oozes a laddish solidarity . . . Berkmann's wit lays bare the painful vicissitudes of hoping for English success' Independent on Sunday --Independent on Sunday

`Both informative and terrifically funny, Berkmann has written what may be the cricket book of the summer' WBQ
--WBQ

About the Author
Marcus Berkmann writes for the DAILY MAIL and a monthly pop music column for the SPECTATOR, and has written columns on sport for the INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY and PUNCH.