The Grade Cricketer: Tea and No Sympathy

Description

'A sequel to The Grade Cricketer? It's like junk time in a second innings - something you just have to be part of.' Gideon Haigh. Is life without cricket worth living? It's a question asked and answered by the Grade Cricketer, as he faces a cricket-free future after a devious plan goes horribly wrong. Hilarious, ridiculous and completely true to life to anyone who's ever spent time in a dressing room, Tea and No Sympathy takes us on a skeweringly funny sporting misadventure through the world of grade cricket and the flawed, damaged and occasionally appalling people who play it, from the creators of the bestselling novel The Grade Cricketer. Praise for The Grade Cricketer: 'The Grade Cricketer is the finest tribute to a sport since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, and the best cricket book in yonks. It's belly-laughing funny but it's also a hymn to the grand and complex game delivered with a narrative pace and ability I'm afraid most Test players don't have. For anyone who ever dreamed of excelling at a sport but never quite made it but still gave it your life, this is the story. A great read!' Tom Keneally 'The Grade Cricketer has taken us so far inside a district club dressing room that you feel like a locker. Ligaments could not be closer to the bone than some of his observations.' Kerry O'Keeffe 'The Grade Cricketer is strange and, I suspect, brilliant'. Wisden

As wide-eyed juniors, Dave Edwards, Sam Perry and Ian Higgins all dreamed of playing cricket for Australia one day. That was before they entered the harsh, dog-eat-dog world of Australian grade cricket, where their hopes and dreams were swiftly extinguished; their cricketing careers subsequently laid to rest. As a form of catharsis, 'The Grade Cricketer' was born: a desperate, delusional 'everyman' that thousands of middling amateur athletes can relate to, even if they refuse to admit it publicly.

The Grade Cricketer is strange and, I suspect, brilliant. * Wisden * The Grade Cricketer is the finest tribute to a sport since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, and the best cricket book in yonks. It's belly-laughing funny but it's also a hymn to the grand and complex game delivered with a narrative pace and ability I'm afraid most Test players don't have. For anyone who ever dreamed of excelling at a sport but never quite made it but still gave it your life, this is the story. A great read! -- Thomas Keneally The Grade Cricketer has taken us so far inside a district club dressing room that you feel like a locker. Ligaments could not be closer to the bone than some of his observations. -- Kerry O'Keeffe