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The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy
The brilliantly funny new novel featuring The Grade Cricketer, hero of the bestselling cult classic The Grade Cricketer.'A sequel to The Grade Cricketer? It's like junk time in a second innings - something you just have to be part of.' Gideon Haigh.Is life without cricket worth living? It's a question asked and answered by the Grade Cricketer, as he faces a cricket-free future after a devious plan goes horribly wrong.Hilarious, ridiculous and completely true to life to anyone who's ever spent time in a dressing room, Tea and No Sympathy takes us on a skeweringly funny sporting misadventure through the world of grade cricket and the flawed, damaged and occasionally appalling people who play it, from the creators of the bestselling novel The Grade Cricketer.Praise for The Grade Grade Cricketer is the finest tribute to a sport since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, and the best cricket book in yonks. It's belly-laughing funny but it's also a hymn to the grand and complex game delivered with a narrative pace and ability I'm afraid most Test players don't have. For anyone who ever dreamed of excelling at a sport but never quite made it but still gave it your life, this is the story. A great read!' Tom Keneally'The Grade Cricketer has taken us so far inside a district club dressing room that you feel like a locker. Ligaments could not be closer to the bone than some of his observations.' Kerry O'Keeffe 'The Grade Cricketer is strange and, I suspect, brilliant'. Wisden
254 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2017
14 people are currently reading
86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 19, 2023
The familiar read I was looking for. Quite funny but also quite tedious. The language familiar to my year 12 cricket team being used in a novel is jarring - but also exactly what I wanted. Would recommend (to a select group of friends).
December 24, 2025
Rollicking read. Emma in the whites 😢
Forever hotmail accounts.
Nicely played.
Forever hotmail accounts.
Nicely played.
September 13, 2024
You have to be a cricket tragic to enjoy this book.
November 21, 2017
The Grade Cricketer was an entertaining read, and this follow-on is just as much fun. A mixture of funny, sad and downright pathetic tales, as the Third Grade cricketer stumbles through life caught between love and hate of the game he has played for decades.
April 9, 2026
I was not entirely convinced about this fictional account of life on Australia's grade cricket scene. There was just a little less punch in the humour of this one compared to previous editions that I have read. It's still engaging and occasionally funny but also misses its mark at times.
Our main protagonist is a 31-year old middle order batsman who - while once hopeful of making it big in one of Australia's biggest obsessions - has by the time we join him seemingly given up on superstardom. His continued involvement in the sport feels more like habit and the absence of anything better to do on a Saturday than any genuine lingering ambition.
Not helping his cause is his loyalty to teammate and best friend Alan Nugget - 'Nuggsy' if you will. His opening gambit in the story is to try and rope our hero into an attempt at match fixing to make a quick buck. The way our man plays one of his best ever innings as a direct result of trying to get out seems a stretch.
It's at its strongest away from the cricket field. Though the game is never out of mind it's the way that it impinges on every aspect of their lives that strikes a note. Their relationships, friendships and their family lives are all conducted through the prism of what it all means for their cricketing aspirations, such as they are. Cricket gets in the way of everything, like a drug that they just can't get off.
Perhaps it is true to life - I have never been in a cricket dressing room and the book is based on real experiences - but the narrative does predictably lean into loutish behaviour and cutting banter. In doing so it flirts wildly with lazy stereotyping. That wouldn't be so bad if the banter justified it but there's nothing in here that makes you think any of these characters could go into comedy if the cricket doesn't work out. Which it inevitably will not. It's a bit of a tell for me that I don't feel like I would need to experience a cricket dressing room to create these characters.
These parts of the book can drag a little, but there's a surprising twist involving Nuggsy near the end which elevates the narrative considerably. No spoilers, but the lewd, often arrogant and bullying Nuggsy turns out to be not quite who you thought he was. All if which gives him greater depth but probably doesn't forgive him the sins of his earlier clownery.
If you play cricket at any level you should give it a try, if only to find out whether these characters are anything like your teammates. There are some insights into the Australian cricket system for sports fans who may be interested. But if you aren't a sports fan and you don't find practical jokes amusing them it's probably one you can do without.
Our main protagonist is a 31-year old middle order batsman who - while once hopeful of making it big in one of Australia's biggest obsessions - has by the time we join him seemingly given up on superstardom. His continued involvement in the sport feels more like habit and the absence of anything better to do on a Saturday than any genuine lingering ambition.
Not helping his cause is his loyalty to teammate and best friend Alan Nugget - 'Nuggsy' if you will. His opening gambit in the story is to try and rope our hero into an attempt at match fixing to make a quick buck. The way our man plays one of his best ever innings as a direct result of trying to get out seems a stretch.
It's at its strongest away from the cricket field. Though the game is never out of mind it's the way that it impinges on every aspect of their lives that strikes a note. Their relationships, friendships and their family lives are all conducted through the prism of what it all means for their cricketing aspirations, such as they are. Cricket gets in the way of everything, like a drug that they just can't get off.
Perhaps it is true to life - I have never been in a cricket dressing room and the book is based on real experiences - but the narrative does predictably lean into loutish behaviour and cutting banter. In doing so it flirts wildly with lazy stereotyping. That wouldn't be so bad if the banter justified it but there's nothing in here that makes you think any of these characters could go into comedy if the cricket doesn't work out. Which it inevitably will not. It's a bit of a tell for me that I don't feel like I would need to experience a cricket dressing room to create these characters.
These parts of the book can drag a little, but there's a surprising twist involving Nuggsy near the end which elevates the narrative considerably. No spoilers, but the lewd, often arrogant and bullying Nuggsy turns out to be not quite who you thought he was. All if which gives him greater depth but probably doesn't forgive him the sins of his earlier clownery.
If you play cricket at any level you should give it a try, if only to find out whether these characters are anything like your teammates. There are some insights into the Australian cricket system for sports fans who may be interested. But if you aren't a sports fan and you don't find practical jokes amusing them it's probably one you can do without.
December 8, 2023
On the wall at the head of the bed, directly above the pillows, was a life-sized poster of Mark Waugh. There he was in 1997, decked out in green Australian test helmet and Slazenger gear, casually clipping one oof his legs in his inimitable style, overlooking the room like a Hindu deity. It was then that Nuggsy's stories came flooding back to me. He had always made a point of highlighting his love of sex in the missionary position. It occurred to me that this would expose him to Mark Waugh's gaze were he to briefly raise his head during sexual liasons.
'Nuggsy, please don't tell me you look at Mark Waugh while you're having sex...'
Silence ensued, a lascivious smirk slowly creeping across his face.
'You really are sick, aren't you, mate?'
'They don't seem to mind, mate,' he grinned.
The above highlight and the pic (from their World Cup Morning Glory Podcast) summarizes the book! That's it, Pezza!
On a serious note, the plot of the book is as aimless as our character and his relationship with cricket. Same old hilarious, literally lmao, sad and absolutely pathetic stories. At one of point, I was so frustrated with our grade cricketer that I seriously wished that cricket should bring more humiliation (both professionally and personally) for him. Otherwise, the back story of Nuggsy was heart-touching and the sheer gloom in the final moments of the book were emotional for me.
"How can one sport be fun as a kid and so emotionally crippling as an adult?"
In a nutshell, the book reminded me a lot (most of the time) about this meme -
'Nuggsy, please don't tell me you look at Mark Waugh while you're having sex...'
Silence ensued, a lascivious smirk slowly creeping across his face.
'You really are sick, aren't you, mate?'
'They don't seem to mind, mate,' he grinned.
The above highlight and the pic (from their World Cup Morning Glory Podcast) summarizes the book! That's it, Pezza!
On a serious note, the plot of the book is as aimless as our character and his relationship with cricket. Same old hilarious, literally lmao, sad and absolutely pathetic stories. At one of point, I was so frustrated with our grade cricketer that I seriously wished that cricket should bring more humiliation (both professionally and personally) for him. Otherwise, the back story of Nuggsy was heart-touching and the sheer gloom in the final moments of the book were emotional for me.
"How can one sport be fun as a kid and so emotionally crippling as an adult?"
In a nutshell, the book reminded me a lot (most of the time) about this meme -
April 12, 2026
Really enjoyed this and had mild chuckles and sighs of exasperation all the way through.
I have never played cricket and know little about the game, but this is a story about obsession.
Any obsession can rule your life - not necessarily just a sport.
The cricketer, whose name we never learn, manages to alienate everyone, lose opportunities and generally allow his life to slip away.
The tales of club culture and the rivalry between 'alpha' males - each trying to best the other is the underbelly of sporting clubs in Australia. The bad behaviour - mostly resulting from drinking, is not surprising. Players of sport of all kinds appear on the front pages of newspapers due to acts committed in the belief that they will be forgiven due to their sporting prowess.
There are many sports where 'sledging' is common but society is changing and racial, sexual and homopohobic slurs are no longer tolerated.
The language in this book is crude, as is the behaviour generally - a glossary of some of the jargon would have been helpful at times.
The last chapter of the book raises hope that our protagonist may have hope for a different life and manage to retain his love for the game.
Good writing - I could almost smell the locker-room!
I have never played cricket and know little about the game, but this is a story about obsession.
Any obsession can rule your life - not necessarily just a sport.
The cricketer, whose name we never learn, manages to alienate everyone, lose opportunities and generally allow his life to slip away.
The tales of club culture and the rivalry between 'alpha' males - each trying to best the other is the underbelly of sporting clubs in Australia. The bad behaviour - mostly resulting from drinking, is not surprising. Players of sport of all kinds appear on the front pages of newspapers due to acts committed in the belief that they will be forgiven due to their sporting prowess.
There are many sports where 'sledging' is common but society is changing and racial, sexual and homopohobic slurs are no longer tolerated.
The language in this book is crude, as is the behaviour generally - a glossary of some of the jargon would have been helpful at times.
The last chapter of the book raises hope that our protagonist may have hope for a different life and manage to retain his love for the game.
Good writing - I could almost smell the locker-room!
February 18, 2019
I really wanted to love this book but there was just too much wrong with it. Weak and plotless with ciphers for characters and deeply unsatisfying motivations...I could go on.
Where it did succeed was to recreate the ambience of cricket - the long hot afternoons, the failures and rare successes, the banter, and the love/hate of the game for those of us who never played for Australia. This dragged my rating up to a 3 but it couldn't save a book that never quite knew where it was going from a storytelling perspective.
Where it did succeed was to recreate the ambience of cricket - the long hot afternoons, the failures and rare successes, the banter, and the love/hate of the game for those of us who never played for Australia. This dragged my rating up to a 3 but it couldn't save a book that never quite knew where it was going from a storytelling perspective.
January 18, 2018
Good light hearted read for any cricket fan.
October 25, 2020
Short, funny read for those who like cricket and thought they'd be a cricketer one day ;)
April 6, 2021
The first edition of Grade Cricketer was better than this edition "Tea and No Sympathy". However, it is still funny and worth a read.
February 15, 2022
Perhaps 3.5
October 26, 2023
A good time
August 23, 2025
Enjoyed the hell out of it. Laughed out loud more than a few times. Just a good, fun read.
December 5, 2025
One of the funniest books. Also the first in the series is The Grade Cricketer - 5 stars - even funnier. Couldn't find it on this website to add.
January 20, 2024
"The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy" by Dave Edwards, Sam Perry, and Ian Higgins is a humorous take on the world of amateur cricket, offering a blend of cricketing anecdotes, satire, and self-deprecating humor. While the book succeeds in delivering laughs and capturing the essence of club-level cricket culture, it may not appeal equally to readers outside the cricketing community.
One of the strengths of the book lies in its witty writing style. The authors, known collectively as The Grade Cricketer, inject a healthy dose of humor into their storytelling. Their ability to find amusement in the mundane and absurd aspects of amateur cricket contributes to the book's entertainment value. The candid and irreverent tone resonates well with those familiar with the quirks of playing at the grassroots level.
The narrative structure, presented in short, episodic chapters, makes the book accessible and easy to digest. Each chapter offers a glimpse into the comedic trials and tribulations of the amateur cricketer, creating a lighthearted and enjoyable reading experience. The recurring characters and themes provide a sense of continuity throughout the book.
However, the humor in "Tea and No Sympathy" is very cricket-centric, and readers with limited knowledge or interest in the sport may find some jokes and references less accessible. The book assumes a certain level of familiarity with cricket culture, and those outside this demographic might miss out on some of the nuanced humor.
While the self-deprecating humor is part of the book's charm, it can also become repetitive at times. The continual portrayal of the authors as hapless and inept cricketers may wear thin for some readers, who might wish for a bit more variety in the comedic elements.
In summary, "Tea and No Sympathy" is an amusing and enjoyable read for those immersed in the world of cricket, particularly at the grassroots level. The humor is specific to the sport, and while it may not have universal appeal, cricket enthusiasts are likely to appreciate the book's comedic take on the trials and tribulations of amateur cricket.
One of the strengths of the book lies in its witty writing style. The authors, known collectively as The Grade Cricketer, inject a healthy dose of humor into their storytelling. Their ability to find amusement in the mundane and absurd aspects of amateur cricket contributes to the book's entertainment value. The candid and irreverent tone resonates well with those familiar with the quirks of playing at the grassroots level.
The narrative structure, presented in short, episodic chapters, makes the book accessible and easy to digest. Each chapter offers a glimpse into the comedic trials and tribulations of the amateur cricketer, creating a lighthearted and enjoyable reading experience. The recurring characters and themes provide a sense of continuity throughout the book.
However, the humor in "Tea and No Sympathy" is very cricket-centric, and readers with limited knowledge or interest in the sport may find some jokes and references less accessible. The book assumes a certain level of familiarity with cricket culture, and those outside this demographic might miss out on some of the nuanced humor.
While the self-deprecating humor is part of the book's charm, it can also become repetitive at times. The continual portrayal of the authors as hapless and inept cricketers may wear thin for some readers, who might wish for a bit more variety in the comedic elements.
In summary, "Tea and No Sympathy" is an amusing and enjoyable read for those immersed in the world of cricket, particularly at the grassroots level. The humor is specific to the sport, and while it may not have universal appeal, cricket enthusiasts are likely to appreciate the book's comedic take on the trials and tribulations of amateur cricket.
May 2, 2018
Championship, champions league. No book has made me laugh out loud as much, or left me with vivid images that so match actual memories from my life between 20 and 30...
The combination of The Grade Cricketer and this book will be a guilty pleasure for anyone who has grown out of playing cricket and spent many hot Saturday afternoons in the prime of their life not at the beach, or indeed still look at fields of perfectly maintained grass and imagine how good to field on that, or how much value you'd get for your shots out there.
There's some inappropriate messages that can tend to negate the warmth you have for these very flawed characters, but our narrator, whose name we never know, always has potential beyond chipping in for 30 odd (23).
It's a Michelle Pfeiffer from me.
The combination of The Grade Cricketer and this book will be a guilty pleasure for anyone who has grown out of playing cricket and spent many hot Saturday afternoons in the prime of their life not at the beach, or indeed still look at fields of perfectly maintained grass and imagine how good to field on that, or how much value you'd get for your shots out there.
There's some inappropriate messages that can tend to negate the warmth you have for these very flawed characters, but our narrator, whose name we never know, always has potential beyond chipping in for 30 odd (23).
It's a Michelle Pfeiffer from me.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews