One liner - One of the better cricketing autobiographies.

Tony Lewis had three choices for his career – be a violinist, rugby for Wales and cricket for Glamorgan and England. He sampled all three and had the greatest success in the last. Without being an exceptional player, he led England eight times and led Glamorgan to their second County
Championship. In Playing Days, all the three intertwine but is predominantly about cricket.

In 1955 at the age of 17, he was to join the summer course of the Welsh National Youth Orchestra, tour Glamorgan and the Edinburgh International Festival. Apparently as a reaction to this, Lewis received a letter from the Glamorgan skipper Wilfred Wooller to play in the last two matches of the county season at Cardiff and Neath.

Lewis first impression with county cricket was of a shock. Entering the dressing room, he was a huge argument going on between Wooller on one side and senior pros Haydn Davies, Allan Watkins and Gilbert Parkhouse on the other. Lewis went in at No.8 with Glamorgan 179 for 6, was leg before first ball.

Wooller, a big man and the king of cricket in Wales, is a major figure in the book. Under him, Glamorgan had won the county title in 1948 and played on till 1960. He saw Lewis as his protégé and groomed him to be a future captain. Like many other counties, Glamorgan was captured by amateurs. Lewis was the only other amateur in the team which meant that during matches, he lunched and dined with Woolley and the administrators in a separate dining room. The state of affairs seems to be tolerated by the professionals without much grumbling.

Soon after his debut, Lewis got admitted in Christ College in Cambridge after completing three years in the national service. After Wooller retired in 1960, he played for six years under Ossie Wheatley and captained the county from 1967. Under him Glamorgan finished third in 1968, won the championship in 1969 and second in 1970. When Ray Illingworth took a break from touring in 1972, Lewis captained the England side to India and Pakistan. The remaining parts of the book describes his post career friendly tours to different parts of the world.

Lewis was no more than a decent player who because of the circumstances of the time captained England and Glamorgan. Throughout the book, he stresses this in amusing ways, always playing down his abilities. For eg, this excerpt is from the time he was invited during a stay in West Indies to play for Coral Reef Waiters against Colony Club :

" The breakfast waiter lurked and looked : he could not hold back his astonishment. "Are you the Mr Lewis who playing cricket for us on Saturday ? "

I could not speak. Joan answered yes.

"Oh !", he said. "I don't think you'll make any good. That Hartley Alleyne and his boys – fast, man". He played a hurried defensive stroke with a napkin, closed his eyes and made a whistling sound as the imaginary ball went past his head. Then laughed.

Well, Jeffrey, I don't know whether you have seen Mr Hartley Alleyne bowl for Worcestershire, but he is quicker than your average waiter. He is like greased you-know-what.
….
Not for the first time in his life Lewis took guard in the pool of blood unreasonably left by the batsman before him. However, he made 30 not out, by reason of his long experience and natural cowardice. " ( )