Review of "And God Created Cricket"

In this blog, we are reviewing the book “And God Created Cricket” by Simon Hughes

Simon Hughes guides the readers through all the great tales of the Cricket game, from its earliest origins in the sixteenth century, through the formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in 1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the Wisden Cricketers' "Almanack" was first published and the Ashes series was born to the present day.

 Throughout its 500-year history, cricket has been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes that have brought the people from the quintessential village green to Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar, via a fair number of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains. The outline of his story is how the English had invented the game and how other countries have learned the game swiftly and have become better at this game, even to the level of beating England.  It is the story of the mad characters who inhabit the game, the extraordinary lengths people will go to watch and play it, the tale of a national obsession. It debunks the myth of cricket sportsmanship, showing the origins of sledging and match-fixing in centuries of subterfuge, corruption and violence.

The culture and history of the game are amusingly brought out in an enormously jolly book. Overall the book provides plenty of fun, good stories, research from the analyst and history of cricket for the readers.