August 2023, Firefly Press, 140 pages, Paperback, Review copy
Summary from Firefly Press
Originally a way for bored shepherds to pass the time, via a first international in New York in 1844, to an estimated 60 million players worldwide today – it’s no surprise that cricket is the second most popular sport in the world.
Find out all about the sport in Cracking Cricket – full of jokes, fun facts and spotlight on famous cricketers, perfect for cricket fans and newcomers alike.
Nayu's thoughts
I'm fairly sure I'm about to insult most sports fans by saying prior to reading this book I thought cricket was a glorified game of rounders (the type I played in school). I'm not a sport person. I knew very little about cricket other than a bat is used to hit a ball (well, hopefully), and people ran after the ball got hit. And the ball got caught.
Despair not, after reading this really interesting fact-filled book I understand cricket is both more complex than rounders and also quite simple too. Somehow all the explanations made sense. With my poor memory I can't easily recall all the facts (or many of them, other than the names for parts of a cricket field are unusual) but that's what this book is for. Any cricket fan will love learnng more about their beloved game. Any non-sport person like myself will be surprised by enjoying learning the ins and outs of cricket, pun intended.
I now understand why some matches can last literal days which always baffled me when I heard about major cricket matches on the news. I could never understand why a game couldn't be completed in a day. Now I understand how it can drag meander through countless hours when teams are evenly matched in a competitive level. I can't say I now want to watch cricket, or any other sport, but I absolutely did like learning about it and seeing how it is similar to but quite different from my childhood rounders (whose rules I barely knew, I ran when told to run (no-one minded I was slow)). There are loads of facts told in a humourous away, totally aided by the fun illustrations which made me smile a lot.
Suggested read
For another sport themed read check out this football poetry collection, Give Us a Goal by Paul Cookson (Children's, Non-Fiction, Poetry, 8/10)
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