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Amazon.co.uk Review
Simon Hughes, one of the pillars of Channel 4's much-acclaimed test match commentary, wrote Jargonbusting to explain cricket to an audience unfamiliar with its complexities and odd vernacular. He's very well qualified to do so: he had a long and moderately distinguished career as a fast-medium bowler for Middlesex and Durham, then embarked on a very successful second career as journalist and television commentator. He's also written two famously entertaining chronicles of his cricketing life: A Lot of Hard Yakka (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in 1997) and Yakking around the World.

Viewers of Channel 4's coverage will know him as "the analyst", the one who explains technical points, tactics and strategy, and other cricketing arcana. This book displays the same gift for making a complicated sport simple. It's the long-missing answer to the famous "cricket as explained to foreigners" tea-towel (and school of thought)--the insiders have enjoyed baffling the ignorant for long enough and Hughes provides a clear primer to enlighten all those friends and relatives who've been totally unable to fathom the sport their loved ones are so addicted to. He assumes no knowledge and takes the reader through the basics of batting, bowling, fielding, captaincy et al. with great thoroughness. There are stills from Channel 4's coverage to illustrate each point, which, though rather grainy and fuzzy, are still pretty helpful. He takes particular care with the LBW law, that epic source of confusion. Richie Benaud is brought in to unravel the subtleties of leg-spin (a bit more complicated, this).

The book is a fine introduction for anyone new to cricket. It doesn't go into depth or try to be a coaching manual, but within its terms of reference, it's an impressively competent tome. --David Pickering

Synopsis
Simon Hughes looks at the latest in test match, one-day international and county cricket, including frame-by-frame pictorial acconts of batting and bowling techniques, past golden moments from English Cricket Board archives, interviews with today's top cricketers and a look at some innovations in the viewing of the game like the snickometer and the Red Zone.

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8 Reviews 5 star:  (4) 4 star:  (4) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (8 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Cricket Made Simple, 6 Sep 2001 By  chris-l@cableinet.co.uk (Newcastle) - See all my reviews Simon Hughes cricket book really makes what at first seems a very complex game look very simple. With his explanation of all things great and small, I have not only become a follower of cricket at all levels but have also become accustomed to the finer details of what is indeed a game of great tactical depth. I would recommend this book to anyone starting out in the world of cricket or to anyone who wants to swot up. Simon Hughes has clearly passed on all his brilliance here in an attempt to gather more interest in cricket, especially in a younger age range, and, for me, he has succeeded tremendously!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: At last I can recognise an LBW!, 18 Sep 2005 By A Customer This review is from: Jargonbusting: Mastering the Art of Cricket (Paperback) An excellent book. Test cricket terms, field placings, bowling, batting & umpiring are explained succinctly, intelligibly and with appropriate illustrations. Although I was a cricket fan before reading this book I now enjoy the game even more because I understand more about it. 4 stars though because of misnumbering of photos in some instances, some poor grammar and also because it now needs to be updated. A lot has happened since it was published and it would be good to see the statistics incorporated into a new edition. It would also be lovely to have a companion book covering limited overs matches including 20-20.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Great introduction to cricket, 1 Jun 2005 By  J. E. Davidson (UK) - See all my reviews       This review is from: Jargonbusting: Mastering the Art of Cricket (Paperback) This is a very good, very clear book about the basics of cricket and cricket jargon. It is clearly written and well illustrated with a collection of excellent photographs that support the points being made. While I would recommend this to anybody interested in cricket (and not already very familiar with the game), I do have a couple of reservations: a) It is starting to look a little dated in places, for example it includes a number of tables, the ratings of the test playing nations, top wicket takers, top run scorers etc all based on 2002 figures. b) The book focuses on test cricket rather than one-day cricket and was written before the advent of 20-20 cricket. Therefore, the book is weak on some of the jargon that is used in the one-day games. Recommended, I just wish there was an updated version.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 8 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews Jargonbusting this book is everything you need to know about cricket. It has pictures from recentish test matches, describes the changes over 5day test matches and tells you what happens to a... Read more Published on 14 May 2005 by N.E.R.D A Great Insight Simon Hughes digs deep into the depths of his cricket knowledge in this fascinating book! I bought it as a follower, but not as an expert, and his book has helped me understand... Read more Published on 10 Sep 2002 Excellent read!!