Customer Reviews
Enjoyable - By: Jamie Buckingham-Jackson, 24 Dec 2007 
Very Enjoyable purchase! I enjoyed reading this, even if the plot's somewhat rushed. Although there's a feeling that the text is there simply to fill up the spaces between the illustrations, there are enough laugh out loud moments & classic Pratchett twists to make it work.
Affectionate, but rambling - By: F Tolley, 28 Nov 2007 
I picked this book off the shelf more out of curiosity about the author (of whom I am an admirer) than for any special love or knowledge of cricket - & then found myself immersed in the history of the game. The book is full of amusing anecdotes & interesting insights, & I felt I got right inside Sir John Major's mind. But the book could have done with a firmer hand on the editing, in my opinion. It is rather rambling & self indulgent in places, & there were definitely places where some trimming would have been beneficial.
Unrivalled before 1800; less convincing thereafter - By: Rgh1066, 01 Oct 2007 
Sir John is at his best in his descriptions of cricketers before the year 1800. He expertly probes the mists to bring us living, breathing characters - players & administrators (and one or two strident opponents of the game), who are unknown to the vast majority of even cricket's own family. Thereafter, I felt he had less to offer as he is covering territory that has been examined many times before, although he at least does so from the perspective of a man reconciled to the realities of modern sport.
There are some curious omissions - no mention at alll of the very first international cricket match (it was between Canada & the USA in 1844, Canada winning in two days), & he seems to dismiss North American cricket altogether as if it did not exist outside the islands of the Caribbean - perhaps in his eagerness to include an old joke about the five day game. But he also gives insightful comments on cricket's likely future being dominated by the subcontinent & explains why England can no longer claim cricket as her own. These insights are thought-provoking, albeit he sometimes disguises opinion as fact.
Sir John's book will remind many of his term of office in that it starts strongly & then trails off. If this seems unkind, Sir John invites the comparison with a swipe at New Labour (over the lottery) that seems entirely out of place & unjustified. There is no doubting Sir John's authority on cricket, but the weakest parts of the book come when he attempts to discuss other sports with the same authority. He also uses the word England instead of Britain on an irritating number of occasions (such as when referring to the winners of the Olympic gold medal for cricket in 1900).
As for describing one cricketer with the words "as English as Henry VIII", I can only wonder if a biography of Gareth Edwards ("as Welsh as Winston Churchill"?) will be Sir John's next venture!
On the whole, though, I am greatly the better informed about the game's early origins for having read Sir John's work. Cricket has given sport the greatest literary heritage of alll, & "More Than A Game" will occupy a proud place on the cricketer's bookshelf.
Disappointed - By: Andrew Smith, 19 Jun 2007 
I have followed cricket fore more than 30 years & was reallly looking forward to reading this book, & have enormeous respect for John Major. However I was not engaged or excited by it - perhaps it was the subject matter, perhaps it was the way it was written. Although some sections are well researched, some of the more general commentary seemed superficial & almost out of place.
Sorry, it just didn't meet my expectations...but you can't get five stars every time.
An original contribution to cricket bibliography - By: Cherestanc, 25 May 2007 A long-standing commitment & affection for England's national game is alll too apparent in this fascinating & authoritative book. Sir John demonstrates - as if there were any need - the quality of his research & intellect. Old myths are re-examined, sometimes debunked sometimes confirmed, & a new light is shone upon some of cricket's historic controversies. The references to social mores of the times & the matching political events gives it a different but weighty style. I would recommend the book strongly, especiallly for those who enjoy history as well as cricket.
