everyone can be a true sports hero. Most of us lost out in life's sports lottery, and we have to find whatever virtue we can in effort and incompetence. Not Out First Ball is a laugh-out-loud manifesto for anyone who has ever silently sobbed at the sight of their off stump cartwheeling off into the distance, or thrown their bat in disgust onto an autumn bonfire. "To field idly at long off in the evening sunshine is to peep back over the wall to when things moved slower, cost less and didn't always need to signify something. At a time of digital abundance, the whole glorious point of cricket is that so much of it is utterly pointless." Roger Morgan-Grenville and Richard Perkins have written a book that is not only funny but also immensely insightful and profound. All cricketers (and maybe even their wives) will identify with the authors' experiences and those of their teammates. Long listed for the MCC Book of the Year 2012.

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