Caught Yapping
Martin Chandler |Published: 2025
Pages: 479
Author: Mukherjee, Abhishek
Publisher: Penguin
Rating: 3.5 stars
I did like the title of this one when I saw it, though my immediate thought was that it might be better suited to an autobiography than a book that author Abhishek Mukherjee gives the sub title A History of Cricket in 100 Quotes.
People do keep on writing histories of cricket, even though to do that job properly would now take many more words than can be squeezed between the covers of a single volume. In addition a proper history is always going to have something of the academic treatise about it, and is unlikely therefore to be the most entertaining of reads.
Against that background I will admit to not expecting a great deal when I opened this one, although the recollection of previous efforts from author Abhishek Mukherjee being well worth my time meant that the journey did not begin without some hope.
And indeed I did enjoy Caught Yapping and, as I have to confess to having nothing like the knowledge of the women’s game that I have of the men’s, even though the book is not a detailed analysis of any of the many areas of the game’s history that it visits I did learn a good deal about that one, so that was certainly one unexpected bonus..
There are, as the sub title suggests, a century of chapters to Caught Yapping. Each of those takes its title from a single quote, following which Mukherjee reels off a number of short paragraphs each referencing an issue raised in the words of the title.
Thus the book begins with a quote from a Surrey Coroner in a court case from 1598, something which allows Mukherjee to look at some of the very earliest mentions of the game. It goes on to conclude with a quote from Heather Knight referencing her views on the preamble to the current version of the laws of the game, and that means Mukherjee is able to construct a comparatively lengthy chapter on that most elusive but important aspect of our game, the oft referenced ‘spirit of cricket’.
In between those two there is much of interest and all of the game’s most important aspects are looked at and even for those who already know a great deal about the game there are still insights that aid our understanding. One chapter that illustrates that point is that concerning the mode of dismissal that seems unable to shake off being referred to as ‘mankading’. In bringing that particular subject up to date the name of Ravichandran Ashwin cannot be avoided, and Mukherjee provides some background concerning him that I was not previously aware of.
Which leads on to another point that is very much to the credit of Caught Yapping. Most histories of cricket have been written by English writers so, unsurprisingly, English cricket tends to dominate with the game’s growth elsewhere being mentioned largely just in passing and, in the same way, the women’s game generally getting little attention.
Mukherjee can’t and certainly doesn’t ignore the fact that cricket began in England, but equally there are many references to the game in other nations and, as I have already alluded to, several of the quotes lead on to a consideration of the development of the women’s game.
The clever thing that Mukherjee has achieved with Caught Yapping is putting together a book that will appeal to all. There is no important new research in it, yet it is written in a way that the game’s aficionados will enjoy. At the same time anyone who picks the book up who is not overly familiar with the game’s history is going to realise just how much there is to that particular subject and, I would hope, then go on to find the urge to dig further into the game’s great literary reserves irresistible. For that alone we should all be grateful to Abhishek Mukherjee.A
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