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.