Book of the Week

The Breaks Are Off by Graeme Swann
Recommended by Zack McGuire

For any cricket fan, this is a great book, as it gives an insight into what it is like to be a professional cricketer, as well as talking about many of the struggles that Graeme Swann went through in his journey to the top, be it fallouts with coaches or problems with terrorism.

For me, definitely the most interesting part of the book was the beginning, where Swann talks about his route through the Youth Academies and in the end making it into the full England Team. I felt like I could definitely relate to this, as he also started off, like many others, by being taken to cricket matches multiple times a week by his parents.

Another really interesting part was when Swann talked about terrorism, and how he was influenced by the hotel terrorism attack of 2008. Swann seriously questioned the ethics behind the decision to return to India, after having narrowly missed being caught up in a mass execution of British and American tourists in the lobby of the hotel which they had been staying in just two days earlier. Swann felt that the ECB were just making them go back for the money, although in the end he did decide that he should return, and that Test cricket should be his first priority, even after the terrible events of a month earlier.

The way Swann talks about the hierarchy of the England team is especially interesting, as he often directly questions the motives and actions of his coaches and the ECB. I certainly didn’t expect this, as I originally thought that players were happy under their coaches. Overall, this is a very good read for anyone who likes cricket, as it tells of many things that other autobiographies don’t have, and it is not just about cricket.