In And Off Me Own ‘Ed, Middlesex Till We Die (MTWD) Book Review of On and Off The Field by Ed Smith, 13 January 2005

My second commission from MTWD was to review each of Ed Smith’s first two books.  Ed had been signed by Middlesex in the autumn of 2004.

The first of those two reviews, Hard Balled Egg Ed, a review of Playing Hard Ball, together with a bit more of the back story and forward story, was blogged about here, published on 1 January 2005.

The second review, In And Off Me Own Ed, which is a review of On And Off The Field, is linked here.

If anything were ever to go awry with the MTWD website, you can find that piece here.

The key takeaway (for those unwilling to click) is that I did not think anything like as highly of this book.  I did enjoy Ed’s third book, What Sport Tells Us About Life, but that is another story.

Hard Balled Egg Ed, Middlesex Till We Die (MTWD) Book Review of Playing Hard Ball by Ed Smith, 1 January 2005

My second commission from MTWD was to review each of Ed Smith’s first two books.  Ed had been signed by Middlesex in the autumn of 2004.

I had been meaning to read Playing Hard Ball for some time anyway, so the commission was a good excuse to read that one.

I got to know Ed quite well that summer of 2008, when he was injured and sitting around the pavilion a lot second half of the season.  Coincidentally, he and his then girlfriend (now his wife) Becky lived just around the corner from me in W2.  I would run into him/them occasionally in the neighbourhood for a few years after that injury forced his early retirement from the game.

Here is my MTWD review of Playing Hard Ball, naturally published under my nom-de-plume Ged Ladd.  

Just in case anything ever happens to MTWD, I have scraped the piece to here on Ogblog.

The key takeaway (for those unwilling to click) is that I would recommend the book highly.