More Than A Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but it was just so dry and uninteresting I wound up putting it down, and not picking it up again. If one is really, really passionate about cricket and the earliest days of it, perhaps it is worth the slog, but for me, I just couldn't do it (and I really do enjoy cricket).

I had seen a review of this book in the Economist a few years back, and had put it on my "to read" list. Finally got around to downloading it while on holiday in Hawaii. I've only started reading it, but I can tell you that it is very good. I know nothing whatsoever about cricket, and I wanted to learn. Mr. Major is an excellent writer and he brings the sport to life. If, like me, you know nothing about cricket and want to have a comfortable and enjoyable read, I recommend this book. Also, because Mr. Major followed Mrs. Thatcher as PM, I always had a view of him (as did, no doubt, others in the US) as somewhat bland; he is not. The book gives you an insight into Mr. Major's personality that makes for fascinating reading.

One of the best written histories about the game. Yes, the author John Major is that Sir John the former Prime Minister of Great Britian! This is a superior piece of work and one that anyone who has an interest in Cricket will enjoy reading.

Very detailed, but boring

For More Than A Game, John Major uses the same formula he used for his autobiography: he starts with a chronological account then switches to topical subjects.In the first half he presents a chronology of cricket from the very early days when records reveal something called cricket was played but that was probably nothing more than hitting a ball with a stick, if even that. Major continues with successive chapters describing successive periods until he reaches the late 18th century by which time cricket had become something fans would recognize today.Major then switches to topical chapters which are still in a loose chronological order but with considerable overlap. He has a chapter on the evolution of bowling from under hand to round arm to over hand. One chapter describes how troups of players began being paid to tour the country while another describes the slow controversial ascendancy of these professionals. Major even devotes one whole chapter to the people who keep game records, and manages to keep it interesting! The last chapter ends with how the Great War killed many promising young cricketers.The book is wonderfully well written. Major's prose is clear direct and forceful; it's not perfect and he waxes a little too lyrical on occasion and quotes poetry that only a cricket lover could forgive. And the editor should really have insisted on a better title.Again, John Major shows himself to be a pragmatic conservative. As he valued the Tory party above the issues that tore it apart (e.g. Europe) Major values the institution of cricket above any single characteristic. He sees the game isn't now what it was at the beginning of the 20th century, but he recognizes that the game needs changes like one-day cricket if it is to maintain its place among other sports. While his book is about cricket's past, readers may feel cricket has a great future lying ahead.Vincent Poirier, Dublin

Like the author, this gem of a book is, on the surface, dry and serious, but as you get to know it you uncover self-deprecating charm and subtle humor as the former British prime minister expounds on the real love of his life, cricket. If you love cricket, give it a try-and give it a chance. Also like the author, it will, against all perceived odds, grow on you.

This thick volume came after many month of erudite research by our ex (and cricket-loving) P.M.. He took the thoughtful route of liaising with Roger Packham about the game's early years and this was a wise move. What follows is a wonderfully crafted history of cricket separated into relevant chapters. It is written in a clear and wonderful style and is hard to put down. There have been a few books about cricket's history, but this may well get the nod as the best of them all.

The point of this book is that no-one is really sure where cricket began. It is largely accepted to have started in a recognisable form in the early eighteenth century and from then it has been constantly metamorphisizing into the game we know and love. Before I read this I had never heard of "single wicket" cricket, played until the mid-19th Century but it would be intriguing to see such a match today between, say Andrew Flintoff and Andrew Symonds. Some of the facets of the game taken for granted today took years of controversey to develop: overarm bowling, leg pads (allowed only after one player suffered horrendous leg injuries) and three-stump wickets. Some of the characters are given, sometimes lengthy, pen-portraits: WG Grace, Fry, Trumper obviously, but also some the early pioneers, Mynn, Felix, Beldham and "Lumpy" Stevens. The early administrators of the game probably wouldn't look out of place in the MCC today, Lords Harris and Hawke being both paternalistic and dictatorial at the same time. This really is a page tuner for anyone interested in the game and an absolute must for anyone disenchanted with the current fashion for cheerleaders, rock music and sledging which has destroyed so much of the game's appeal.

Engrossing. Endlessly fascinating.

John Major writes very well and I am a big fan. That is why I bought this book, even though I hate cricket with a passion!

Being a cricket fan I would like him to do a book leading to present day an excellent book about early days of cricket