Beyond the Boundaries: Travels on England Cricket Tours

by Scyld Berry

Scyld Berry has been covering England cricket tours since 1977, initially for The Observer and since 1993 for the Telegraph. In that time he has seen more England Tests than anyone else, nearly 500. He is also the only person to have won the top awards for both cricket journalism and cricket books.

Here, he takes us deep into the heart of each of the nine Test-playing nations he has visited, recounting tales of tours gone by, as well as his own non-cricketing encounters off the beaten track. Fascinating, funny and forthright, Berry’s talent is in not making you swear jealous revenge for the life he has lived, following cricket around the world, but instead enjoy that you can sit alongside him for an afternoon, at least in print, and hear stories that no-one else could tell.

Genres: Travel

246 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2021

Reviews

[Andy Weston · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had expected this to be a collection of anecdotes that Berry had picked up from his vast experience of touring, but it is written in the style of a memoir, and too often Berry chooses to give his own, dated, and sometimes offensive, views on the country and its culture, that he is visiting.

In my opinion, this borders on racism at times, particularly when he is in Asia, expecting a certain standard of luxury, and complaining in no uncretain terms when he doesn't receive it.

I kept reading because I thought I had misread or misunderstood the sentence. But the similar attitude, and his reporting of it, occurs again, and again. They have clearly been included intentionally.
These are not blatant remarks, and at the time they occurred, will have passed unnoticed, but to repeat them in a new book in 2023 is not acceptable.

[Luke Hayhurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whilst containing much information about Cricket, as you'd expect from a book about cricket, this book is actually crammed full of information for people not into cricket. Scyld Berry offers up a lot of information on the history and societal issues of various places from the West Indies to Australia, India to South Africa. A great read from start to finish.

[Matt N · Rating 2 out of 5]

One-sided, derogatory and meandering history of colonialism through cricket's eyes.