No object encapsulates the subtle, mysterious richness of cricket as much as its most famous character, the cricket ball: the swinging, bouncing, spinning heart of the glorious game. Gary Cox tells us the life story of the ball in its many guises: new ball, old ball, live ball, dead ball, no-ball, lost ball, swing ball and dot ball. He untangles the complexities of spin bowling (with a little help from Shane Warne), the tricks and cheats involved in ball tampering (including a look at the 2018 Australian scandal) and explores the multi-coloured future of a rapidly changing game. A kaleidoscopic look at the ball through the lenses of everything from philosophy and science to history, politics and biography and the myriad facts and figures of the vast cricket universe, Cox brings you a brimming biography of this legendary leathern orb and the heroes, fools and villains it has created along the way.

A fascinating journey through the ever popular, time-honoured, thrilling, complex and peculiar game of cricket, that takes the cricket ball, the coriaceus orbis, as its central theme, driving force and guiding light.

About the Author
Gary Cox has a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Birmingham, UK, where he is also an Honorary Research Fellow. He is author of The Sartre Dictionary, Sartre and Fiction, Sartre: A Guide for the Perplexed, How to Be an Existentialist, The Existentialist's Guide, How to Be a Philosopher, The God Confusion, Deep Thought and Existentialism and Excess - all published by Bloomsbury.

Reviews
Cox's style is delightful. General readers will find Cricket Ball a wonderful introduction to the game. Those more familiar with cricket writing will also enjoy his insights into its more technical aspects. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. * CHOICE *
Gary Cox finds more angles on the cricket ball than Shane Warne! -- Gideon Haigh, author of 'The Cricket War'
Curious, reflective, discursive, Cricket Ball is in part a philosopher's disquisition on the hard leather object, in part a devotee's meditation on the game itself. -- David Kynaston, co-author of 'Arlott, Swanton and the Soul of English Cricket'
One of the most original cricket books you'll ever read. -- Lawrence Booth, Editor of the 'Wisden Cricketers' Almanack' and cricket writer for The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday
Cricket ball is a thoughtful delight...It is infinitely more worthy than most of the cliche-ridden pap that crams the sports shelves in our bookshops. -- Roy Williams * The Australian *



Book Information
ISBN 9781350014589
Author Gary Cox
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 436g