style="overflow: hidden; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;">All his life Ed Smith expected to play cricket for England. He always achieved what he wanted – a first class degree from Cambridge, acclaim for his writing – and in 2003 England picked him. With more luck, he might still have been in the team today. But in his third test match, just when he needed to prove himself after a couple of poor performances, an umpire wrongly gave him out for a low score. “With today’s rules,” writes Smith in this delightful and illuminating book, “I would be able to review the decision and would be recalled. Not then. I trudged back to the pavilion and never played for England again.” In 2008 he broke an ankle, was wrongly diagnosed, and had to retire from cricket. He now writes full time.