The Spirit of Cricket
By (Author) Christopher Martin
Faber & Faber
Faber & Faber
8th December 2005
Main
United Kingdom
Paperback
544
Width 135mm, Height 216mm, Spine 38mm
570g
'This splendid anthology will be enjoyed by both players and watchers, but perhaps appeal even more to the largest class of all, the dreamers and fantasists, those sadly inferior players who become in imagination Bothams and Gowers hooking Curtley Ambrose in the stands . The dreamers will find plenty to feed on here.' - Evening Standard (UK) This richly entertaining anthology conveys the sweep of cricket's evolution from W. G. Grace to Shane Warne, from the sport's origins in the Weald to the contemporary professional (and increasingly commercial) game. There are sections on 'A Boy's Game', 'England v Australia' and 'Champions and Characters', and contributions from such luminaries as C. L. R. James and Mike Brearley, Neville Cardus and E. W. Swanton, Stephen Fry and Edmund Blunden. Cricket has inspired more writing, in terms of both volume and quality, than any other sport. A romantic game of skill, patience and heroic deeds, cricket is also a tough duel between batsman and bowler, unique because the team battle is dependent on the sum of individual struggles.
Christopher Martin-Jenkins (known as CMJ) is a cricket journalist and commentator for Test Match Special (TMS) on BBC Radio 4. Martin-Jenkins joined the TMS team in 1973, aged 28. While captain of cricket at his school, Marlborough, 11 years earlier, Martin-Jenkins wrote to Brian Johnston asking him how to become a cricket commentator. At various times, Martin-Jenkins has been cricket correspondent for the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and The Times.