Many a Slip

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Beauty Mate! - Rated
Anyone who has played club cricket will identify and love this book. Hilariously written and superbly observed - this loose "diary" of a season will leave you with a warm glow inside. Beauty mate!

Instant empathy - Rated
I did begin to wonder whether any of the nicknames in this book had been contrived to further characterise the people we barely had a chance to meet in the run up to the Yarra's season but, the more of that season the diary chronicled, the more the characterisation developed anyway and it was all the more touching for it. If you have played any cricket - or any amateur sport - you will empathise instantly with the peaks and troughs of the sporting achievement, and the stresses and strains of club administration. You'll recognise the people too because there is almost certainly the same blend in your own club.

In many ways, this is no different to Rain Men but, as an Englishman, all the more revealing of club culture in a sporting nation we have been conditioned to revere. For that alone Many a Slip is worth reading because you'll identify moreso with a shared bond that spans a far greater distance than some of the more parochial and therefore recognisable events in Rain Men and similar diaries.

Haigh is an excellent, perceptive and thoughtful correspondent who'll neatly encapsulate much of what you feel about your own cricket club. If you're not a cricketer then this is worth reading to see what all the fuss is about: ultimately, it isn't even about the cricket; it's about the shared interest and the mateship. It's a delightful book.

Cricket's the same game wherever it's played - Rated
This is the diary of the South Yarra cricket club's 2001-02 sesson in Melbourne, Australia. It makes you realise that all cricket clubs are the same all over the world. Some of Haigh's characters and situations will be instantly recognisable to anyone who has played in the lower reaches of club cricket anywhere. I read this in less than two days on the train and had to struggle not to laugh out loud at several points. Very highly recommended to anyone with any interest in club cricket - or anyone who just wants quick, funny read.

fantastic - Rated
if you've ever read Gideon Haigh's column in the Guardian and enjoyed it, then you are obliged to buy this book.

fantastically funny, and beautifully written in a vernacular style, this is a fine read.

if you are worried about it being overly 'australian' then you might have a point, but i love it and I'm a pom.