This book is Damien Fleming’s autobiography. Damien Fleming was an Australian, Victorian and South Australian cricketer in the 90s and 00s. It is mainly about his cricket life but it is also about his passions on and off the field. He is famous for getting the run out in the tied semi-final of the 1999 World Cup. He currently works as a commentator and analyst for Fox Sports.
The pluses of this book are that it is absolutely hilarious because it tells jokes, pranks and his thoughts that occurred. It tells them word by word which makes it quite funny. It also has great comparisons and links that add extra humour. This also gives a great insight into the life of a cricketer from the 90s. It tells about the cricketing culture and about how the 12th man’s job has changed.
This book also shows times of disappointment and times of achievement. It also gives a great insight into Fleming’s teammates and their weird ways. This proves to be funny and engrossing. The negatives of this book are that it is loaded with coarse language.
It is not suitable for anyone who cannot cope with foul language or ‘adult’ language as it mentions a lot of it. However without the coarse language some of the jokes would not be as funny. The other negatives are that it sometimes has irrelevant things involved for example in one part of the book he tries to make comparisons between cricket and other sports speeds and this didn’t add anything of use to the story. This draws the reader’s attention away from the original story of the chapter. This is disruptive as you want to keep going with what you are reading about but some useful information is mixed in with the irrelevant information.
I would not change anything from this book; this is because the coarse language makes the book funnier and more amusing. It also helps to more accurately describe things. The irrelevant information gives some useful and slightly amusing facts and stories not linked to cricket. This is a sports book which I would recommend for the ages 12+. This is only a possible age recommendation as it might be 12+ or it could be 16+, it mainly depends on one’s ability to cope with coarse language.
It is written by Damien Fleming who was an Australian opening bowler in the 90s and 00s. He is famous for getting the run out in the tied semi-final of the 1999 World Cup. He suffered quite a few injures but managed to battle back into the Australian side on several occasions. I would rate this book 8/10.