Still the Best Loved Game?

Still the Best Loved Game?[edit]

Still the Best Loved Game? is a book written by Neil Cole^[1]. Published in 2019, the book describes the 2018 English cricket season through a series of essays based around 17 matches the author attended. Each chapter features a specific match, with the exception of The Double Header, which features two Twenty20 matches played back-to-back on the same day.

Still the Best Loved Game? describes games at a range of levels, from school and village cricket to a Lord's Test match. The book therefore cover both amateur and professional cricket. It includes women's as well as men's cricket, as well as disability cricket. It therefore describes different types of cricket and those who play and watch it. In doing so, it offers a portrait of cricket's place in English society, and ways in which both the game and society have changed. The book is also set against the backdrop of the ECB's attempts to introduce a new competition, The Hundred, in the face of opposition or cynicism from many involved in cricket.

Theme[edit]

The book contains descriptions of 17 cricket matches of various kinds. The writer starts the book at Edgbaston, with a game between Warwickshire and the students of Durham MCCU on the opening day of the season. This is followed by the match between the MCC and the national club champions, Wanstead CC, as well as games covering the County, day/night cricket, the Pakistan touring team, the One-Day Cup final, Canterbury Cricket Week, the England v India Lord's Test, a one-day internatonal between the England and South African women's teams at [[Worcester[[, a village game in Hertfordshire, a Roses Match at Headingley, Twenty20 cricket in Taunton, a Lancashire League (cricket) game in Accrington, a disability cup final in Kidderminster, and school and university matches.

Influences[edit]

Still the Best Loved Game? was inspired by the 1979 book The Best Loved Game, by Geoffrey Moorhouse, and generally follows the same format. Some of the original book's chapters are echoed in the new book, such as those on Test cricket, a county versus a touring side, the Roses Match, a Lancashire League game and CCanterbury Cricket Week.

However, Still the Best Loved Game? contains some important differences. In particular, it takes a much more inclusive approach for the 21st century. Unlike its predecessor, it includes women's cricket and disability cricket; it also replaces coverage of Eton v Harrow with a match between MCC Schools and the English Schools Cricket Association, which includes boys from state, as well as independent, schools; and covers the MCCU final between Loughborough MCCU and Durham [MCCU]] rather than Oxford v Cambridge.

The book also includes matches of a type that did not exist in 1978, such as Twenty20 cricket and a day/night match.

References[edit]

↑ "Still_the_best_loved_game". google.co.uk/books. Retrieved 29 May 2018.

Neilinabbey (talk) 17:22, 29 May 2019 (UTC)