MARCUS O'RIORDAN's
"WORLD BOOK DAY 2024"
CRICKET REVIEW
THU 7 MAR: WORLD BOOK DAY 2024
Today is designated as the day to extol all things literary and bookish. The KCHT has celebrated WBD24 by asking Kent cricket all-rounder MARCUS O'RIORDAN ...
... to review his favourite five cricket-related titles. A keen book-reader, Marcus - a former Tonbridge School stand-out - has kindly given us an insight into the reading habits of today's cricketers.
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HITTING AGAINST THE SPIN
NATHAN LEAMON AND BEN JONES (2021)
Leading analysts Nathan Leamon and Ben Jones discuss the inner workings of the game using data.
The book starts by looking at how England used data to drastically change their strategy in 50-Over cricket, which led to a 50-Over World Cup win in 2019 - Nathan Leamon being England’s lead analyst. Interesting topics such as the relative advantages of being either a left- or right-handed batter in certain countries are discussed.
This book will allow anyone with an interest in cricket to gain a deeper understanding of the game and, undoubtedly, enhance your experience when discussing or watching the game in future.
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ON PIETERSEN - SIMON WILDE (2014)
The only biography on a particular player that I will include in this list (tbhI haven’t actually read that many others).
The 2005 Ashes was one of my early memories of watching cricket on TV and it coincided with KP starting to dominate international bowling attacks for the next decade.
Quite a unique route into the England side and, arguably becoming the best player in a team that reached world no. 1, the narrative is enhanced by the many reported fallings out and personal difficulties along the way.
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ON FORM - MIKE BREARLEY (2017)
Although not specifically ‘a cricket book’, the former England captain cites many examples of cricket through personal experience playing at the elite level and captaining England. As the title suggests, the book sets out to explain what it means to be ‘On Form’; what are the reasons why some days we’re on form and some days one can feel like a complete beginner?
The book allows the reader to recognise certain behaviours that may compound the issue of experiencing a loss of form and, thus, lead to an understanding of how to avoid drastic drop offs in performance for too long.
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CRICKET 2.0
TIM WIGMORE AND FREDDIE WILDE (2020)
A fairly comprehensive account of the emergence of T20 cricket from being a format that was hardly taken seriously in its early days to now being the premier format of the game worldwide. Detailed interviews with players, coaches, journalists and various stakeholders from T20 franchise competitions around the world make it all the more informative.
The book also offers interesting predictions for where the T20 revolution may be heading in the future from those closest to the action.
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MAKING DECISIONS - ED SMITH (2022)
Clearly a strong Kent cricket connection here; Ed Smith, writes in detail about his time as Chief Selector for England cricket and the variety of complex decisions that he had to make during this time. With there being so much data and computing power available to making virtually any decision, the book gives great examples of how important human intuition and creativity still are in creating a robust framework in which to be able to make
the correct call.Examples from various sports and even games such as ‘GO’ make for a fascinating read.
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Many thanks to Marcus for taking the time out from pre-season training at the Spitfire Ground to deliver the above reviews - interestingly all within the last seven years. As a small thank you for his insightful review, the KCHT has 'rewarded' Marcus with 'old school' autobiographies of a couple of Kent legends: Les Ames and Colin Cowdrey. We wonder what he will make of them?
As a postscript to Marcus' contemporary book list, on World Book Day,we thought we'd share a few pictures of signed copies of past Kent cricketers' publications.
LES AMES
"Close of Play" (1953)
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GODFREY EVANS
"The Gloves Are Off" (1960)
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BRIAN LUCKHURST
"Boot Boy to President" (2004)
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CHRIS COWDREY
"Freddie meets Freddie" (2006)
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COLIN COWDREY
"Cricket Today" (1961)
(when signing MCC usually added the date)
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DUDLEY MOORE
"The History of Kent County Cricket Club" (1988)
(with 30+snippets of player autographs)
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KCHT BOOK FAIRS:
The Trust will be hosting a regular second-hand book stall during the playing season on certain match-days at the Spitfire Ground.
As well as selling unwanted duplicates of the many books in the Club's library - from player autobiographies to statistical reviews - the book fair will also offer Player Benefit Brochures (some signed), Club annuals, editions of Wisden, score-cards, plus other non-fiction books and cricket-related ephemera.
The next Book Fair is scheduled for Fri 10th May - Day One of the Worcs Championship match.
The Trust is also looking for volunteers to help sift through the Club's vast stock of books - and is holding a 'sort out' on Wed 8th May at 11am - inside the loft of the Frank Woolley Stand. Please let us know if you can help out via our Contact page.
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