Chinaman

There I was thinking this was the greatest fiction book about a mythical fictional cricketer called Pradeep Mathew when I discovered that the mostly unseen antagonist of this brilliant novel was real and legendary and had a shortened career. That doesn’t make this book any less brilliant in its uncovering of the politics underlying international cricket and Sri Lankan society. This is, simply, the definitive book for the gentleman’s game.

W G Karunasena is one of life’s great critics, a hypocrite, a failure, a drunkard and a man hoisted by his own obsessiveness. As he kills himself on arrack and repetitive arguments about the greatest cricketers who graced the field, his obsession for the oft-forgotten Pradeep Mathew is put to the test when he is asked to make a documentary about him. What follows is a Maguffin of a plot as Karunasena chases the mythical player, uncovering some hilariously vivid cricketing characters, deep-seeded rivalries, deep-rooted politics and some hometruths about his great country’s great newfound status as cricketing gods. Divided into short vignettes, with enough instruction on the great game to keep those not into the sport interested, we are presented with a startlingly original, hilariously funny and passionate treatise on cricket and those who worship at its wicket.