This is a different kind of cricket book, a very different kind ... Marqusee is withering in his exposure of the racism and hypocrisy prevalent in the English cricket scene

Indian Review of Books

Mike Marqusee is an American, a socialist, and a cricket-lover. The alchemy of this unique combination has contributed to the production of this remarkable book. To call it a book on cricket would be a gross misnomer ... It weaves together the social history of English cricket with the social history of England in a manner which is as unique as it is brilliant. It is doing a sort of CLR James on English cricket ... The book is laced with insightful comments about the relationship between cricket, the nation and the market. Quite fascinating

Prabhat Patnaik, Frontline (India)

Funny, disturbing and deeply provocative ... A ruthless analysis of why the English whine'

Hindustan Times

Mike Marqusee knows and loves cricket and both qualities shine through his brilliant contribution to cricket literature. Neither blinds him to the reality that cricket in Britain is shot through with hypocrisy and a corrupt and vicious nationalism which perverts the supposed ideals of the game. In this, he puts most cricket writers to shame ... His style, while gently ironic, is charged with deadly truth

Salim Salaam, Race and Class

An unusual and extremely thought provoking book. It is also a unique book which transcends all the known genres of cricket writing ... Even those who do not agree with all that Marqusee has to say on the politics of cricket and the prejudices of the English will accept that he has provided a novel and a much needed perspective on the noblest game of them all

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, The Telegraph (Calcutta)

Certainly puts the ball tampering affair in its proper perspective. An excellent critical analysis of English cricket

Imran Khan