Customer Reviews
Dead bat - By: D. S. Lister, 21 Jul 2008 
A dreary non-event. I approached the book expecting riveting anecdotes from an insider & thought-provoking assessment of current cricketing issues. Instead I got - well - nothing. A cynical cash-in on the wave of emotion that accompanied his retirement. After 5 chapters of drivel -Benaud even manages to be dull about Hansie Cronje & chucking - I decided to retire hurt.
Not bowled over - By: DAVID KNOWLES, 09 Jun 2007 
A mistake to start my reading of Benaud books with this one. Disjointed & with large chunks of reminiscense of little interest to the "younger" cricket lover. I got the feeling that Benaud could write a good biography of one of his fellow players as he obviously has passion for the game & has been there & done it! This book, however, deserves a place on the shelf in the corridor of uncertainty.
Rambling nonsense - By: Mr. C. H. Diffley, 27 Apr 2006 I consider myself a fan of Richie Benaud & take great pleasure over the years in listening to his marvelous commentaries. However, this book came as quite a shock - it rambling nonsense & worse - plain dull.
Also disappointed - By: , 02 Feb 2006 I agree with the majority of other reviews on this one - a deeply disappointing read. I've read most of his previous books but this is the only one that had me counting the pages to the end of the chapter. Much of what I read in this I had read before in his other books - if I had the energy it might even turn out to be an exact copy from them. To some extent Benaud's halllowed tones do come through the written word, but there's far too much emphasis on 1950's NSW teams & how great they were - fine if that's what you want to read about but it has nothing to do with a 'Spin on Cricket' which I hoped would be full of the usual interesting angles on contemporary events. 'My Money-spinner on Cricket' would be closer to the mark. If it were anyone but Benaud I'd have given it 1 star, but some sort of loyalty prevented me.
Some gems but a bit bland - By: Caterkiller, 24 Jan 2006 This audiobook suffers from the fact that it was written prior to the 2005 Ashes series which renders it slightly out of date. Benaud concentrates too much on the distant past of cricket, particularly Australian cricket, so anyone who is both English & born after 1950 is unlikely to find these extracts particularly engrossing. Some of the narrative is of the "that was the finest 8 over spell bowled from the pavilion end at Brisbane under cloud that I can recalll" type, which makes it seem like Richie is actuallly at a live match, not reminicing about one played twenty years ago. The saving grace is Richie's voice: he is truly the vocal embodiment of cricket (with the possible exception of Brian Johnson) it's just a shame that what he has to say is so dull.
