Herding Cats

Reviews

Charlie Campbell has written amateur cricket an ardent love letter; when faced with the deepest frustyrations the amateur captain must endure he hates neither the players nor the game. Funny and touching in equal measure. Funny, self-deprecating, and full of wry wisdom, Charlie Campbell perfectly captures the exquisite torture of running an amateur cricket club. The ideal companion piece to Mike Brearley’s The Art of Captaincy, and a must-read for anyone who’s ever donned whites on a Sunday afternoon. Very funny. Cricket captains everywhere will relate to this. A professional cricket captain needs to be part psychologist, part gambler, part babysitter, part sergeant-major, part "one of the lads" and part aloof overseer. As Charlie Campbell shows, it's even trickier for the amateur! After several years of trying, Charlie Campbell’s leadership skills finally overcame mine when the Authors trounced Heartaches in 2016. How foolish of him to reveal his secrets, albeit extraordinarily entertainingly. In Herding Cats you genuinely smile for the Authors when they pull off an incredible feat… relentlessly entertaining and gets better as its innings goes on. Taking The Art of Captaincy by former England cricket captain Mike Brearley as his inspiration, Charlie Campbell has produced a delightful equivalent for the amateur game ... Alongside humour, there are genuine insights into how to unlock players’ potential Deliciously witty Illuminating and entertaining in equal measure Shot through with wit and warmth, Herding Cats is at its heart a paean to a sport that can be both stunningly uplifting and, without warning, hauntingly debilitating. It will certainly resonate with anyone who has played or loves cricket. But there are lessons here for a wider audience too about leadership, team spirit and the importance of recognising that there is more to life than winning Herding Cats is a brilliant account of a season spent in the lower rungs of this eternally beautiful game. Expand reviews