Saturday, September 18, 2010

Book Review - Shep - my autobiography by David Shepherd

I've always thought that Shep was a bit of a character. One of those larger than life fellows. From what I saw of him on TV as a test match umpire he didn't appear to take any nonsense from the players. His autobiography cost me $2 so surely it was value for money.

I have to say the book was a disappointing read. Sure, I didn't know that Shep was a county cricketer in England before becoming a first class umpire. Books written by former cricketers are normally full of amusing anecdotes about the game of cricket. Ok, there were a few amusing stories but he refers to his Devonian roots and excessive girth far too often during the book. Shep was an insecure cricketer as he didn't have the ability to reach the next level and was always worried about maintaining his place in the Gloucestershire side and trying to lose some weight. He mentions umpire Dickie Bird a few times and his autobiography is the next book on my reading list.

Sorry, but I wouldn't read another book by Shep and I didn't enjoy this one by him. And the foreward by Richie Benaud wasn't flash either.

Shep - my autobiography by David Shepherd

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There will be better reads. Gil