Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket
Woolmer's new release reviewed.
This review has been written by one of our members, DavidF. A big thanks to him.
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Bob Woolmer intended this book to be the definitive manual on cricket, and it was this book that he was working on at the time of his untimely death in Jamaica in March 2007.
Bob Woolmer played for Kent between 1968 and 1984, during which time he played 19 times for England, an international career ended by his participation in the rebel tour to South Africa in 1982. He was coach at Warwickshire County Cricket Club in the early 1990s, including the 3 "glory years" (1993-95) where, under Woolmer and captain Dermot Reeve the County won 6 domestic trophies. He was appointed coach of South Africa in 1995 where, in partnership with skipper Hansie Cronje, South Africa became one of the top teams in the world (during this period they won 10 out of 15 test series and 73% of one-day internationals). After defeat in the 1999 ICC World Cup, Woolmer worked for the ICC before becoming coach of Pakistan in 2004.
This volume captures Woolmer's own philosophies on coaching, captaincy and strategy. Very much key to his philosophy on coaching is assessing what ability and potential the individual has and develop this. There is little point trying to radically change how the individual plays to fit the M.C.C. coaching manual (and whilst on the subject of the latter, this book includes instructions on playing the slog-sweep, the reverse sweep and even switch-hitting). As you might imagine, batting, bowling, fielding and wicket keeping techniques are covered in depth.
There have been a vast number of coaching books over the years - two recent favourites of mine are Greg Chappell on Coaching and Alan Pearson's SAQ Cricket. As someone who has had little formal coaching over the years (and my team-mates would no doubt say that this is blatantly obvious!), watching the game, studying coaching books and manuals (and, of course practice and playing) is how I improve my own game. But a testimony to Woolmer's earlier coaching book (his 1993 book Skilful Cricket) is evident this season. I applied two suggestions from Skilful Cricket to my batting with the result that my average has improved from a paltry 10 in 2006 and 2007 to a far more respectable 30+ this season.
Professor Tim Noakes is a sports scientist (and author of the classic Lore of Running) and his partnership with Woolmer represents the first time that a sports scientist has collaborated with a coach on a playing and coaching cricket book. Unlike its predecessors, this is not simply a coaching manual - there is a great deal more to this book than just that. It contains "cutting edge research" on the medicine and science of cricket, and discusses the biomechanical, medical, mental and scientific aspects and aims to provide cricketers with not only the technical ability but also fitness and mental toughness, including unique insights on mental skills. It also looks to help make cricketers as injury resistant as possible (the part on lower-back injuries that plague quick bowlers is fascinating). It is impossible to argue with the publisher's claim that this is a trail-blazing book that is set to become the definitive manual on playing and coaching cricket.
Being a left-handed bat myself, the discussion around left-handed batsmen was intriguing (did you know that based on population's ratio of right to left-handers, there should be 1 left-hander for every 9-10 right-handers?). I would have liked to see some coaching photographs especially for left-handers (but you can't have everything, and I suppose that is what mirrors were invented for!).
Woolmer draws on a number of existing texts, adopting the philosophy that if it is not possible to add to a previous work, why try and "re-invent the wheel"? Therefore, he refers substantially to Alan Knott's 1977 Wicket-keeping, Mike Brealey's The Art of Captaincy and, initially somewhat surprisingly Don Bradman's Art of Cricket (but as Tony Shillinglaw stresses in Bradman Revisited, Bradman himself was unorthodox and never received any formal coaching. Woolmer's assessment of Bradman’s batting is excellent).
As you would expect, the book is accompanied my numerous diagrams and photographs, a number of the latter being the "freeze-frame" variety, as some of the world's best players (including Jaques Kallis for batting and Jonty Rhodes on fielding). There are also some colour and black and white "plates" (too few in my opinion - I would have liked to see included the classic "side on" view of the great Victor Trumper, but again this is freely available elsewhere.
On the surface, £30 may seem like a lot to pay for a coaching book (although, of course, we've got 10% off). But remember what you are getting for your money. Not only are you getting the knowledge and experience of who many, myself included, consider to be the greatest coach that the game has ever seen, but also you are getting the best parts of a number of influential works on the technical aspects of the game.
There is a danger that the content might be inaccessible given the medical, scientific and technical topics covered. But it is well written, perhaps not in a "lively style" as the publishers claim, and is quite easy to read and its use of summaries, anecdotes and tips from cricket's greats and of course its explanatory illustrations make it accessible to virtually everyone.
Despite the publisher's intentions that the book provides "Cricketing lore for all lovers of the game", it is not a book for the casual fan, but if you play, regardless of your standard, then this book is a must.
As it was described to me, it is a "beast" of a book, but probably isn't something that you will need to read from cover to cover. It is thought provoking and has got me thinking about every aspect of my own game! This really is an excellent book and one that I feel that all players should own.
I will leave it up to the publishers to provide the final word
Bob Woolmer's legacy - a lifetime's cricketing experience in one trail-blazing volume
About This Entry
‘Bob Woolmer's Art and Science of Cricket’ was posted by Liam Doyle on Fri, 5th September 2008 at 22:34:12 BST and filed under book reviews.
