By Ged
January 13 2005

Middlesex’s star signing of the off-season, Ed Smith, has written two books in his spare time. In the second of two book reviews, Ged (himself the author of a couple of spare time page turners) reveals his impressions of Ed Smith’s On and Off the Field.

Ed Smith kept a diary of his 2003 cricket season; that year he played for Kent and also, as it turned out, briefly for England.  The diary was published in spring 2004 as On and Off the Field. 

 

Ed was encouraged to write this book by Steve Waugh, who implored Ed to “tell the truth as much as you can”.  Now Ged has great admiration for Steve Waugh, the cricketer.  Ged also has enormous respect for Steve Waugh, the tireless charity worker.  But Steve Waugh the publishing guru?  Well, perhaps it seemed like a good idea on the back of Ed’s acclaimed first book published in 2002, Playing Hard Ball.  Penguin clearly thought so and leaped at the idea, inducing Ed to desert Time Warner who had gambled on Playing Hard Ball and who also bid for this one.  So Time Warner also thought it was a good idea. 

 

Well, with the benefit of hindsight Ged isn’t so sure it was a good idea and probably neither Ed nor Penguin are too chuffed either.  Steve Waugh himself might even admit he called this one wrong, given what happened in its wake.  Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to any Middlesex fan who likes reading and who yearns to know what makes players tick during the season and what they are thinking when they are out in the middle.  This book gives a rare insight into a very intelligent cricketer’s thinking.  In Ed’s ‘ead, as it were.

 

The problem with the book is that it doesn’t reveal very much about anyone other than Ed Smith.  That’s fine for the Middlesex fan who wants to know about our latest signing, but for the Kent fan or the England fan who wants to learn some juicy gossip about the other players, it doesn’t deliver the goods.  The Book is curiously neither fish nor fowl; it reveals little about the other players and yet Ed got up plenty of noses by writing the book, which probably was a major cause of his ruction with Kent and subsequent move to Middlesex. 

 

Our Ed is a bright fellow and anticipated this problem – as he says himself on the first page of the Introduction, he agonised over whether to write this book or not.  “How would my team mates react to being described and analysed?…….most sportsmen are extremely sensitive; even the smallest criticisms can be taken as betrayal”.   Yes, he’s a bright fellow, our Ed, but by the very act of prophesising the potential for upset and stating it so honestly right at the front of the book, Ed was probably asking for problems.

 

Now Ged is not saying that any members of the Kent team, especially not the test and ODI heroes, think that cerebral is the stuff you eat for breakfast or that erudite is a type of glue.  But several of those guys don’t list reading as a major hobby on their CVs.  And to be fair, you really do need to read this book to conclude that Ed is striving hard to be diplomatic and loyal to his team mates, while being honest, truthful and open about himself. 

 

The main ruction, of course, was caused by the Fulton injury passage.  Dave Fulton nearly lost an eye in pre-season training in 2003 and has accused Ed of inferring in this book that Fulton’s negligence or recklessness was in part the cause.  For those of you who hate rummaging through books to find the bit you want, it’s on pages 38 to 39.  When I first read the passage I thought it was pretty bland, especially given the rumpus it has caused, and I wondered how on earth anyone might be offended by it. 

 

However, I read the passage out loud to Daisy and she leapt on several nuances contained in those pages and felt it was perfectly understandable that Fulton was both offended and thought Ed had gone too far.  On re-reading it two or three times, I realised that there is an element of juxtaposition in there that might just hint at possible negligence or recklessness on Fulton’s part.  And as Ed himself says, these sports people are sensitive types.

 

So Ged can imagine how this book might have become demonised in the Kent dressing room by those who got not much further than page one of the intro, with the odd sentence being taken out of context here, a rumour about what was or wasn’t in the book there.  “…..and he knew it would get up our noses, he even said so on the first page of the intro, the rotten so-and-so………..…….”  Result: ructions.

 

The book does give terrific insight into the way an intelligent batsman like Smith trains, thinks and plays.  I found that level of detail fascinating, although I cannot imagine anyone other than a true cricket lover getting much out of it.  The story of Ed’s poor start and then extraordinary season is intriguing. He certainly isn’t joining Middlesex to get away from our bowling – he thrived on it pretty consistently and it got his 2003 season going by the looks of it.  His short and not very sweet England career is very well told. 

 

 There are one or two minor irritations about the book; Ed’s use of the term “batter” for “batsman” irritates me – it certainly isn’t a worthwhile attempt at anti-sexist language as I am yet to meet a woman cricketer who wishes to be called anything other than a batsman.  His choice of music at critical moments is a little strained too – Born To Run (cliché) and the Immolation Scene from Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods (pretentious).  And why we are teased with a line or two about a beautiful English rose eating plums and watching Ed bat, only to be left wondering whether anything at all ever happened……………..

 

However, I think On and Off the Field is a very interesting read for the Middlesex fan and I shall certainly get additional pleasure tracking Ed’s career with us, knowing so much about his motivation and way of thinking.

 

 

To order a copy of On And Off The Field by Ed Smith, from Amazon, priced Ł11.89, Click here.

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