Product Description

Cricket defines Englishness like no other national pastime. From its earliest origins in the sixteenth century (or an early version played by shepherds called creag in the 1300s), through the formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in 1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the "Wisden Cricketers' Almanack" was first published and the Ashes series was born, this simple sport of bat and ball has captured the imagination of the masses. Throughout its 500-year history, cricket has been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes that have brought us from the quintessential village green to Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar, via a fair number of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains. William Hill Award-winning writer Simon Hughes, no mean player himself, has lived and breathed cricket his whole life and now takes his analytical skills and typically irreverent eye to charting the history of English cricket. But this is no dry, dusty tome. It is the story of the mad characters who inhabit the game, the extraordinary lengths people will go to watch and play it, the tale of a national obsession. It debunks the myth of cricket sportsmanship, showing the origins of sledging and match-fixing in centuries of subterfuge, corruption and violence. And it takes us beyond sport, to the heart of what it really means to be English.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #595 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

From the Inside Flap
For centuries, the sport of cricket has been known for its spirit of fair play, gentlemanly conduct, mellow thwack of leather on willow and all-round good old-fashioned Englishness. Wrong. Since the earliest primitive hitabouts, cricket has been rife with gambling, corruption, subterfuge and violence, and has been run by a bunch of self-appointed incompetents. Well, some things never change.

In And God Created Cricket, award-winning writer and broadcaster Simon Hughes casts his expert eye over the real history of this most English of sports, and how the rest of the world soon started beating us at it. From the first encounters with the dastardly Australians, through the emergence of the West Indies as the most frightening force the game has ever seen, to the modern commercial operation headquartered in India and Dubai, cricket has survived and still thrives, alternately captivating and infuriating almost two billion people.

With his unique blend of irreverent humour, biting analysis and deep affection for cricket, Hughes also revisits and evaluates the greats of the game and their incredible scoring feats - the laws have always been biased towards batsmen, after all - as well as those whose names have not gone down so well in history. And through it all runs the seam of the Ashes, the titanic contests between England and Australia that always seem to elevate the sport to something altogether different. It just is cricket.

About the Author
Simon Hughes won eight titles with Middlesex, including four county cricket championships, between 1980 and 1991 before finishing his playing career at Durham. He started writing for the Independent while still playing, and has written for the Daily Telegraph and broadcasted for the BBC since his retirement in 1994. He is known to millions of cricket fans as 'The Analyst' for his role in Channel 4's cricket coverage, and is now part of Five's cricket commentary team as well as commentating for BBC radio. He is the author of five previous books including A Lot of Hard Yakka, winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in 1997. He lives in Hammersmith with Tanya and their three children Callum, Nancy and Billy.

Customer Reviews

Yozzer in sparkling form
This is an outstanding book, perhaps his best yet - a bit like his bowling ; pacy, incisive, slightly unpredictable and mostly pretty accurate. It's also funny ( a characteristic which Viv Richards might say his bowling also shared). Any cricket-lover is bound to enjoy it - make a good birthday or Christmas present !

One of the best
I used to be a TV cricket widow until 2005 - I loved every word of this book - the history bits - the funny bits and finished it just in time for the Ashes so I am now giving bits of info to my cricket mad other half - what a way to spend retirement - watching cricket on TV and reading cricket books - but this was certainly the best. His sense of humour is a delight.

what a gem
What a gem of a book.For any cricket lovers, a good cricket book is a must- & this one is one of the best that i`ve ever read. Superbly written, very funny in parts, (more than once i was told off by work collegues for laughing out loud,non cricket lovers-heathens!)Was`nt a bad bowler in his day, but a helluva writer,so if you looking for a good, funny read, do yourself a favour & buy this book, you wont be dissapointed