Book Review - Bob Woolmer's art and science of cricket

Bob Woolmer's art and science of cricket

London: New Holland, 2008                           ISBN 9781847733146

Bob Woolmer's tragic death in 2007 came as a shock to all cricket lovers. A successful player and even more successful coach, at 58 the expectation was that he would have many more productive years to give the game, as he no doubt thought himself, being most of the way to completing this book.

And what a mighty tome it is - over 600 pages devoted to almost everything one could think of to help the modern player become his or her best at this great game. Those older cricket fans would look at the title of this book and reason that inside the reader would discover the correct way to bat, bowl and field. This is indeed described within the covers (using photographs of South African greats such as Jacques Kallis and Allan Donald), but there is so much more. With sections on captaining, psychology, health and fitness, physiology, the physics of swing bowling, there is almost nothing that is not covered.

The book quotes extensively from past players and past manuals - one of the points made is that a player is always learning and information can be garnered from anywhere, and Woolmer and the editors have put this into practice in the compilation of this book.

If you are a budding young cricketer, hunt this book out and make it compulsory bedtime reading. If you are old and worn out like me, do the same for sheer enjoyment.

Cheers for now, from
A View Over the Bell