Customer Reviews
An Inside Line - By: M. Long, 01 Jan 2008 
A remarkable insight into the trials ,successes & failures of an intelligent if sensitive cricketer. An account of the stresses which life as a less than privileged Test cricketer places in a struggle for excellence at the highest level.
Superb introspective diary of a cricket season - By: Greg Farefield-Rose, 21 Aug 2006 
Whilst serving as an overseas player for Kent, Australian captain Steve Waugh suggested to cricketer & author Ed Smith that he should keep a diary of a County Cricket season for his second book. A few meetings with publishers & agents later here it is - a diary of the remarkable 2003 season for the Kent batsman, the drama of which he couldn't have foreseen.
After early struggles, Smith hit a rich vein of form culminating in four successive first class centuries & a calll up to the England Test side against South Africa. Three slightly underperforming Tests later, he is unluckily omitted from the touring party for the winter. An amazing roller-coaster season for the player giving added drama to a superb award-winning book.
With his regular sporting & arts columns in the Daily Telegraph & Times, the then 26-year-old Smith is no ordinary sportsman & this is no ordinary sporting book. Ed is unflinchingly honest & self-examining as he tries to improve his game as well as providing fascinating insights into the life of a modern County & Test Cricketer. It's not alll introspective though & I found myself almost wanting to tap into his lifestyle - probably partly because, like me, he is something of a part-time writer with another main job.
On And Off The Field is an excellently written, thought-provoking book - essential for intelligent cricket fans & anyone who wants to know what makes an inward-looking sportsman tick,
Inside Smith's Head - By: Bob Sanchez, 23 Jan 2006 This is a superb cricket book. Smith is an excellent writer & shares his innermost thoughts with the reader during a rollercoaster season.
It's hard to put this book down, & you feel like you're living the season - actuallly experiencing what it must be like - the doubts, anxieties & rewards of being a professional sportsperson. Recommended for any cricket fan (or as someone above wrote - if you enjoy good writing).
The stimulating inside track - By: G. L. Haggett, 30 May 2005 The inside track on the highs & lows of life as a professional sportsman; Ed Smith's combination of broad-mindedness, philosophical outlook & undoubted writing skills make for a stimulating book which is a cut above the standard one-dimensional county pro's diary. Recommended to cricket fans & admirers of good writing alike.
Disappointing - By: J. E. Davidson, 28 Jan 2005 
The cricket diary has become a rather tired format & I'm afraid that Ed Smith does not succeed in breathing new life into it.
I greatly enjoyed Ed Smith's first book (Playing Hard Balll) & was looking forward to this one, however, I was rather disappointed.
Ed Smith is likeable & interesting man (at least in print) & there are interesting sections but overalll it does not manage to rise above the mundane (and very occasionallly, for example the chapter about Bruce Springsteen, it is rather poor). I enjoyed the sections on his trip to India & some of the technical analysis but ultimately this book offers little new & did not ever reallly grab my attention.
There are many better cricket books available.
