Wot? No index?
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Biographies necessarily stand or fall by the inherent interest of their subjects. Sporting biographies in turn tend to veer between the hagiography and the hatchet job.
Refreshing, therefore, to see a writer prepared to take a balanced but uncompromising look at the conflict between Shane Warne the cricketer and Shane Warne the man.
The book also considers the changes in cricket during Warne's career; the role of the media and of increased TV coverage in particular are analysed with great insight, as are the attendant increasing pressures on players and the growing awareness and importance of sports psychology.
A shame, then, that a publishing house of such standing appears to place little stock by production values; the proof-reading leaves something to be desired and the absence of an index is nigh on unforgivable.
Coupled with the occasionally clumsy expression, these factors prevent this being a five-star book. I await with interest its destiny at the William Hill Sports Book awards.
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