We often take it for granted it when it does, but sometimes life helps us out with a bit of good timing. It just so happened that I received this book in the last week of August, a few days before the News of the World revealed that the Lord's Test was at the centre of match-fixing allegations. It certainly eased the pain.

The sub-title 'What makes cricket the greatest game on earth' sums the book up quite well, apart from suggesting a zealotry which certainly isn't the case. There's no tub thumping involved, and instead - much like the spirit of cricket itself - the book offers a more subtle take on what makes cricket such a wonderful and unique sport.

And there is much to appreciate, whether it be the social facet of cricket, the displays of physical courage, the way it attracts both the sternest of characters and also those who are light of spirit, or its unifying effect. In fact, those are just a handful of its charms, as Rob Smyth reveals through a string of heart-warming tales plucked from history.

Smyth's unrivalled quirkiness is well known to followers of Guardian Online's over-by-over commentaries for cricket and minute-by-minute for football. Somehow he manages to marry his usual offbeat style to a more authoritative tone here, and the effect, allied with the happy stories he's telling, gives one the feeling of a pleasant afternoon watching a match unfold on the village green.

Scattered among the stories that Smyth has handpicked as definitions of the undefinable are entries from legends of the game, past and present, in which they describe what the spirit of cricket means to them. The accounts show just how varied interpretations of that spirit are, despite everyone having played the same game throughout their careers.

For Eoin Morgan it is the good sportsmanship that is so often displayed on the field, for Sir Ian Botham it is the ability to share a drink and a laugh with a fierce rival after a hard day's play, and for Ricky Ponting it is the rich tradition of the Baggy Green. However if there's a criticism to be made, these inserts appear to have been dropped in almost at random and rather distract the reader from the yarn Smyth is spinning. Structurally they don't quite fit.

Otherwise, the stories are generally explained well enough that those who don't already follow the game ardently can pick up a feel of what Smyth is on about, although greater pleasure will be derived by those who have felt the spirit of cricket yet perhaps don't quite know how to explain it. Indeed, for those with an intense passion for the game, this is food for the soul.

Tristan Holme