The Wisden Book of Cricket Quotations
A Wide Selection of Quotes, Poems and Illustrations
Aug 31, 2009
This hard back volume published in 1982 is like sinking into a hot, warm bath of cricket culture. Wisden is the pre-eminent volume of record in cricket statistics and events and their depth of sources and genuine love for the game shines through here. Cricket has been codified and played extensively in England since 1744, and in that time has seen some of the greatest sporting literature in the world.
Cricket Quotes and Writers
The book is divided into various sections such as Batting, Bowling and Fielding as well as Reflections and The Spirit of the Game. Its great strength is the width of writers and culturally important figures who loved and expressed their thoughts on the game. The sport has sunk deep roots into the national psyche. For example:
"He has knocked down the wicket/And broke the stumps,/And runs without shoes to save his pumps/William Blake An Island in the Moon (1787)"
Illustrations and Photographs
The whole book is sprinkled liberally with some of the best cricketing illustrations and photographs. The English love of the game is shown vividly on page 87, with a photograph of around 200 people on a pier in a unnamed seaside town watching an manually updated scorecard! England versus Australia, of course. They add an enormous amount to the book, and are a delight for anyone, even non cricket fans.
More than a Game of Cricket
The poetry is a good percentage of the book, and mainly this is part of the reflective and wistful nature of cricket, of times past, perfect summers and endless afternoons. Cricket is both escape and at the heart of things, suffused in memory of players long forgotten. Mainly though there is a great joy in the game and its players and the playing.
"But what care I, it's the game that calls me -/Simply to be on the field of play;/How can it matter what fates befalls me,/With ten good fellows and one good day!/A.A. Milne The First Game"
An Understanding of Cricket
In many ways, this book is a better way to understand the game of cricket than reading the rules. It reveals the mysteries and history of cricket, at least in England, with wit and passion. The quotes are there to dip into higgledy piggledy, the pictures are amusing and the book has a rather interesting 'key word' index. A worthwhile addition to any sports lovers library.
"Hail Cricket! glorious, manly, British game!/First of all Sports! be first alike in fame!/James Love Cricket: An Heroic Poem (1744)"
Lemmon, David Ed. The Wisden Book of Cricket Quotations, Wisden Cricket Library, 1982, ISBN 0-36-09376-X
 |
