Sir Vivian: The Definitive Autobiography [Mass Market Paperback]

Richards discusses his early life in the Carribean, then moves on to talk about his test match encounters - particularly with England & Australia.

Other subjects covered includes sledging, his public speaking tours with Ian Botham, his controversial departure from Somerset, his time with Glamorgan, the approaches made to him to tour south Africa in the early 80s and the somewhat acrimonious end to his test career (I had no idea he wanted to tour Australia in 92/93!).

The section which most interested me though was the section on the Packer years. I only wish it had been more indepth. As Richards himself admits the cricket played as part of the Packer years was some of the toughest cricket ever played and the sense of challenge that Richards felt comes across loud and strong in the book.

What disappointed me a little was the lack on insight into some of his greatest innings. At no point does he attempt to discuss why he felt his test form dropped off (relatively speaking !!) during the 80s and 90s. That being said he does select what he thought was his best test innings and his decision will surprise you.

He does briefly discuss the eye problems that plagued him during the middle of his career. The cure make interesting reading as does his very frank and honest views on soft/hard drugs.

A good statistical section ends off the book.

Viv Richards, as readers will know, was quite simply the greatest batsman that ever lived. However, I don't think this book quite matches his achievements as a cricketer. I noticed it was co-written by Bob Harris, which in my experience, generally means you're in store for a series of tolerably written anecdotes, but not a sequential diary of events. Although that may be fine for some, I find the jumping around every five minutes a little confusing, but more importantly, you begin to lose that sense of anticipation that is so important when reading a book.

For example, early on, before he'd described how he'd broken into the Test Match arena, he'd describe events and players in a future Test Match to illustrate a particular point.

Viv doesn't hold back his thoughts in this book. If someone or something has annoyed him, he lets it out.

Anyway, if you're a fan of cricket, then you must also be a fan of the man himself, and this book paints an interesting picture of his life.

One little gripe I have about most sports autobiographies, and this book unfortunately is no exception, is that they rarely convey how magical it must feel to be playing for your country, or even your local county side. Maybe when you're the greatest player in the world, it isn't all that special, but all the same, I would have liked to have seen that described in this book.

That, however is a small gripe; the book is a good one, its certainly worth the money, and as he was one of my biggest childhood heros, gets 4 stars from me.