ON AND OFF THE FIELD

by Ed Smith

Excellent Book

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published April 29, 2004

About the author

Ed Smith is an author and journalist, and a former international cricketer who has represented England, Cambridge University, Kent and Middlesex. Ed Smith's previous books include Playing Hard Ball, On and Off the Field -- the Wisden Book of the Year and shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and The Cricket Society Book of the Year Award -- and the critically acclaimed, What Sport Tells Us About Life. After retiring from cricket Ed Smith became a leader writer for The Times. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Chris Warren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and articulate account of one season of a professional cricketer. Not quite as entertaining as I'd hoped perhaps but well worth the read. A little sad really as the three test matches he plays in in that 2003 season were his only appearances for England.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read Smith's writing before but even so I was impressed with his diary of his 2003 season, despite being written 20 years ago in the prime of his sporting life, and therefore early into his second career as a writer.

As a diary it features the details of matches and his batting, and therefore goes into details that aren't seen in a reflective memoir. This was not boring minutiae, but rather an insightful look into the mentality of an ambitious cricketer, and while I might hesitate to recommend it to someone who didn't like cricket, it didn't feel repetitive. Part of that is probably Smith's awareness as a writer, but even in odd snippets he conveys the different personalities of his Kent and England teammates, Flintoff in particular standing out.

Luckily for the publisher this season coincided with his England debut (and in fact, his last match too) which introduces a more obviously new experience halfway through, and the diary entries for his first test are the most detailed. They are also probably the least unique, although there are still details that make it personal, and give a clear impression that Test cricket is much more pressurised than the domestic game.

There are also entries about his personal life, whether that was meeting up with friends, discussing music or hanging out with teammates, and the only entries I found weak were those about music (though I rarely enjoy reading about bands and what music means to the writer) and the more literary allusions, such as what Nasser Hussain would be like as an explorer or the grander philosophical ideas. I didn't mind general analysis, such as his reflections on the teambuilding day, but not so much the hunter-fox-hound batting metaphors.

This is so old now that it also works as a time capsule - the four day game seemed to be the more important and he was prescient in suspecting that the one-day game would be the one to suffer as a result of T20, as it has in England. While subtle, I'm not sure the Hooters and naked Rosamund Pike would be written about so casually although a love letter from a gay fan didn't go in the homophobic direction I'd anticipated.

Perhaps suprisingly to me, the literary and high art instincts of Smith (he suggests killing time to avoid getting worked up before a date by visiting a gallery) were still unusual in a private-school dominated sport, and he doesn't really come across as one of the lads. As a result, it is perhaps a reflection of this one county cricketer's experience rather than a typical one, but I nonetheless raced through this and found a lot to take from it.

[Matthew Mill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just really like this dude- smart, interesting, but inherently down to earth despite his private school education.

[Andy Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

An honest, mature and interesting insight into the workings of the English county cricket season and the experience that goes with it. It is a well written, compulsive diary that made me wish I lived near a county side and that test matches were still on BBC TV.