I wasnt bowled over by this at all (Phil Tuffnell: What Now? - Phil Tufnell, Peter Hayter)

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Product:	Phil Tuffnell: What Now? - Phil Tufnell, Peter Hayter
Date:	30/05/01 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cricket stuff

Disadvantages: Not for cricket haters, Not much to say

If you don’t like cricket then you wont like this.If you do like the hallowed game then you might like it.The book and author try hard to portray him as a notorious rascal when in reality he’s a pseudo cockney in the gentile world of leather on willow(that’s as risky as it gets ).
For all that, he’s Britain’s premier spinner of the ball and should have had a more illustrious career if he wasn’t such a gobby cheeky urchin during his ambivalent journey.
Born into a nice middle class London suburb, Tuffnell quickly went of the rails, as he preferred cider and girls on the park, rather than his homework and cricket commitments at the fee paying Millfield School.

Fortunately his dad was keener on Phillips cricket than he was and smoothed his way onto the Lords and Middlesex set up as beer and fags battled for the young batsmen come tweakers attentions. Cricket is a game like no other that looks after its own, and Tuffers pop was in the fold so he was always destined to make a living in the middle, weather he liked it or not.

Many famous names in the game, be it playing or administrating have got their kids and grandkids onto their or other playing staffs, regardless of their ability and talent. Paul and Mike Smith at Warwicks, to Compton and Hutton junior in the news now.
Even my home team of Northants has allowed our chief exec to lever in his very average son. Let alone Martin Jenkins boy at Eton/Sussex.Yes it does bug me.

Anyhow, Phillip worked at his game and was awarded the first class contract at Middlesex where he struggled to impress on the early green spring wickets. Being at the club after the great spin twins Embers and Edmonds was quite a reputation to live up to.
Eventually he got into his stride and started to bag some wickets and a few admiring glances from the England selectors. The Cat as he is known because of his phlegmatic nature and naps under the dressing room table duri
ng intervals and twelfth man duties was gagging at the bit to play in the big league.

Being at Middlesex in the 1980s like Surrey in the 90s is a guaranteed way into the selectors notebooks. Tuffers was given his chance and the rest is cricket history, which if you know your game you don’t want a reminder, and if you don’t, then you shouldn’t be reading this.

The author goes into his torrid relationships with women, heavily covered in the redtops in the Spring of the 19990s.One was so notorious that the family of his wife had to come around and hit him with some masonry. Well he was supposed to have belted her, so fairplay to them.

Theres tales of his infamously bad fielding and run ins with umpires. One Aussie fan in Sydney shouted out”Lend us your brain Tuffers, we wannna build an idiot”after a particularly inept piece of footwork.
Or the time when he told 6 ft six umpire that he was taller than him by seven inches, but only when lying down.(think about it).

Many captains have b*****d him other the years for his tardiness, especially Mike Gattling who treated him like a kid. Fortunately the installed discipline by fat gat helped to build the man who almost bowled the Aussies out by himself not too long ago.
On his debut in test cricket against Australia of all people, he nervously took guard as the Aussies sledged him all the way in, who the f***k is this wing nut eared joker”were one of many studious comments fired at his redding face.

In later years he was caught up with a pot smoking Publicity stunt in New Zealand that further enhanced his bad boy image. Coupled with some net dodging,”I can’t bat, so why smash up my fingers”was his retort, fair point in my book.and excersize hiding, he was never out of the front and back pages.
Now he has mellowed with his young kid Poppy and wife demanding maturity from a decaying spin bowler heading for his middle y
ears, who still like a fag and a beer at half time.

Its not a great read and you don’t learn much about the ok cricketer. He’s trying to make out he’s crickets bad boy who came from a rough background, when in reality he was born and bread cricket and was always going to play in some capacity in the game.
There are some good celeb anecdotes and plenty of name-drops in this auto biographical format.I cant say i would recommend this to anyone outside of the game and could name a hundred batter ones on cricket to read.
Still if you are intrigued by the ups and downs of Phill Tuffnells average life and statistics then get down to your local library and hire a copy out. I did and would not suggest buying it as its just not a good enough read.

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