Andrew Strauss: Testing Times - In Pursuit of the Ashes

click here for more details, find new or used items	Andrew Strauss Our price £9.99 (£19.99) New from £6.79 Used from £6.75 Pages: 352 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0340840676 Pub: Hodder & Stoughton Pub date: 2009-09-17 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 47243

Reader Reviews:

Andrew's Ashes (3/4 people found this helpful)

I'm somewhat surprised that on-one has reviewed this book as there were a shedload of people queuing up for Andrew to sign copies when I bought mine in early October. Anyway, reading Andrew Strauss's second book immediately after tackling `Coming back to me' by Marcus Trescothick was probably slightly unfair as the Trescothick book has won awards and is more than just a cricket book.

The book charts Andrew's cricket career from the period just after he regained his form in the final knock against New Zealand following his omission from the Test Squad to Sri Lanka. It's an honest and modest summary of both his and the team's achievements culminating in the fantastic Ashes victory in the summer of 2009. It's interesting to read an inside view of how the team responded to the humiliating defeat in the 4th Test at Headingley and then bounced back in the Oval with Stuart Broad's match winning spell of bowling. Andrew showers much praise on Freddie Flintoff emphasising that his contribution to the team is much more than statistics reflect. Otherwise, there is little insight into other characters in the England team and (as you would expect), no outright criticism of them such as we have seen from ex-players who have released their autobiographies after retiring from the game or international duty.

The one aspect regarding the Ashes win which does not receive comment from Andrew is the fact that the series was unavailable on free view television; something which for me made the series less absorbing than the 2005 series had been. How the players feel about their lesser exposure is not explored and it would be interesting to have learnt some inside views on this controversial topic.

So, in summary this is an interesting if not particularly absorbing read and I might be tempted to read an alternative book on the Ashes series written by someone who has more freedom of speech.

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