2008-09-20 From Tears of Laughter, to tears of sadness. Close of play.

Having read similar books (Zimmermen/Rain men) I was keen to step into the troubles of a cricket team - as a player of some 20+ years and now into my 40s, increasingly the trials and stresses of running a cricket team are widespread - which makes this book a joy.
Since finishing it I've recommended it to fellow players, workers and family. When asked by a fellow player if i'd cried at the end as he had when reading, the rest of the changing room laughed - although I doubt if anyone in that room, or elsewhere could hold back the tears as the final couple of chapters bring the party to an end - someone simply pulled the plug on the stereo and told everyone to go home. I'm just glad I'd stopped short of that last chapter during my lunch hour - the tears that rolled down my cheeks that evening whilst reading it would have been tricky to explain to my fellow workers.
Everyone will know someone from Harry's team - there's characters who we all know - like or otherwise. Dreadful performances and wins pulled from the ashes of defeat flow through the book and to an extent, the matches are the breaks in the descriptive marvels that lie on every page - locations, people, experiences, sounds, smells, food - you name it, you feel as if Harry's simply reminded you of what a great time you had and you simply nod in acknowlegement that you know what he's going on about.
I will force(!) my wife to read the first page - then watch her fail in attempting to put the book down until she's laughed and cried her way to the end.
God bless you Harry.
God bless all the Harry's out there.