Penguins Stopped Play by Harry Thompson is an autobiographical tale about a cricket team which he founded and was part of for over 25 years. The Captain Scott team was named after the explorer in commemoration of those who come second and played village cricket across the UK with minor league teams and celebrity opponents. The author was employed by the BBC so many of the people involved with the team are well known names – I suspect that many of the others have had their names changed in the text to prevent law suits. The author tells the stories of their ups and downs across the years as a team but especially their travels abroad.
After some trips to other countries the team decide that they will travel around the world and attempt to play a cricket game on each continent (except Antarctica where the author had already played a makeshift game of cricket which had been interrupted by the penguins of the title). They travel to South America, Central America, Australia, India, South Africa and Singapore and along the way they experience the obvious enmity of the airline, much kindness and a variety of cricketing experiences. Mostly they lose, often they bicker but when it all comes together they have a wonderful time.
This book is a celebration of cricket so it helps if you understand the very basic rules but you don’t have to be an avid fan or to enjoy the game – the author’s devotion to the sport and his love of cricket shines out from the very first page of the book to the postscript. You just need to be swept along by his enthusiasm and his very clearly defined views of what amounts to fair play and honest dealing.
I thought that this would be quite a shallow and gimmicky, but amusing, read about travel and sport but the writing surprised me and I became emotionally involved with Harry and his madcap scheme and was willing him to succeed. I read this book in one day because I enjoyed it so much. It is very amusing but it has more depth than I had anticipated and I enjoyed it a lot.
Anne Is Reading 