These four books cover a broad, though certainly not complete, spectrum of the sporting literature available in this country; highlighting both the strengths and shortcomings of the genre. Sport is an important element for many people, and as such its place and significance in our lives deserves thoughtful consideration. That sport is a recreation does not mean that it should be indulged in unthinkingly or uncritically. As one anonymous Yorkshire cricketer (probably Wilfred Rhodes) pointed out, ‘We don’t play cricket for fun, you know’.

As the title suggests, Richie Benaud’s latest autobiography, On Reflection, is more than a mere life and times of the former New South Wales and Australian all-rounder and captain. For those who would wish to know more of how he took his 248 wickets and scored his 2,201 runs in 63 Tests, Spin Me a Spinner, published in 1963, remains one of the best examples of sporting autobiography around. In On Reflection Benaud musters his experience as a cricketer and journalist and more recently as a cricket consultant, to provide a refreshing insight into the game that he has seen change dramatically over the past thirty-five years, and to offer some interesting suggestions for its future direction. A most welcome aspect is Benaud’s appreciation that, while the game has changed greatly, some traditionalists have been too quick to berate the changes as being detrimental: ‘ … everything which seemed so marvellous years ago is often less so when you get down to the honest task of truthful recall.’ Some traditionalists might be alarmed to learn that from the moment cricket became a mass spectacle, which in Australia was in the 1850s, it has had to pay for its own upkeep and money has been an important consideration for both officials and players. Discussing a throwing controversy in Melbourne club cricket in 1870 one journalist, a former Cambridge blue, wrote that: