Taking The Positives: A Year of Ben Stokes and England Cricket's Brave New World - Couverture souple

Dobson, Ben

Couverture souple

ISBN 13 : 9798322262589

Editeur : Independently published, 2024

Synopsis

2023 was looking like a significant year for the game of cricket, and a special one for English cricket in particular, not least in the forms of a home Ashes series and the defence of the 50-over World Cup. More than that, under Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, England had reinvented their Test cricket over the previous eight months, providing thrilling entertainment and a run of remarkable victories. But the debate had begun ... could this approach sustain in 2023 through the heat of an Ashes battle, and which mattered more, entertainment or victory? Or, as in the opinion of England's captain, was one actually the father of the other? It was a conundrum that would keep England's dedicated supporters vacillating throughout the coming 12 months. But there was also more at play here ... Stokes professed his love for the Test Match game and insisted his team's philosophy of entertainment-first was fuelled in part by a genuine desire to save that form of cricket as it was being assailed on all sides by ever shorter formats driven by moguls and marketing money and heralded by many administrators as the game's only future. Therefore 2023 had the potential to be not just a momentous year on the pitch, but a pivotal one off it for the game we love.

Taking The Positives ... is one supporter's journey through these 12 extraordinary months - written as a diary in real time day-by-day and avoiding the temptation to return and edit those entries which would inevitably shine a light on the fickle nature, the hypocrisy and the contradictions of the committed follower. Ben Dobson began the year with no idea of what his cricketing mood might be by the time the Christmas tree was coming down again. Would we have lived through another Ashes series to rival the ‘never-to-be-repeated’ 2005 and regained the urn? Would we have retained that 50-over World Cup, regularly smashing over 400 and frightening the cowering opposition in this ridiculously un-English fashion, or will it have all come crashing down in a welter of calamitous reality checks and re-established the natural order of England cricket fandom? Might we bask in the glow of victory or be forced back to the black humour which we hope will offset the irritation of defeat. For no man exists more sardonic than the England cricket follower. Perhaps most soberingly, would we have finally succumbed completely to the disciples of the god of money in the modern game? There was only one way to find out and here is the result.

Taking The Positives ... was never intended to have a central character but such was the narrative of the year that this is what came to pass. Ultimately it became more than just a diary of a year of remarkable and almost non-stop cricket - it is both a paean for Test cricket from a true lover of the game and its history, and a thank you note to a certain Benjamin Stokes - transformational cricketer, remarkable man.

Whatever we feel as we revisit the cricket of 2023 - and what cricket it was - and whatever lies in store for us in the years to come, keep taking the positives. As England followers it’s all we know. And do let Ben and his team entertain you. For all that loving the England cricket team faithfully and constantly is sometimes more difficult than we would like, loving the game of cricket is not.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Independently published
• Date d'édition: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 13: 9798322262589
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 238
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg