Four more weeks

VSP, 254pp £16.99 or buy a signed copy for £14.99 from Cricshop

With the hordes of Ashes books appearing on shelves it hasn't left much room for anyone else. It is also nigh on impossible to compete with last summer's thrills and spills but Mark Ramprakash's diary of the season offers a different view - from the eyes of a county pro and one who went through a turbulent time.

He began the summer expecting to be the vice-captain to Mark Butcher, then a short-term stand-in, but ended up doing the top job for most of the summer. He had to deal with a ball tampering controversy in May, injuries virtually all season and was then back in ranks when Surrey were finally consigned to Division Two in the Championship during the last week of the season.

The diary reflects the pace of a county season and reading it does have something of the feel of the grind that players talk about. When Ramprakash decided to do this book, at the start of the season, he wouldn't have expected Surrey to go down. Losing does not make the best of topics for a lengthy book and the tone gets more melancholy as the weeks go on

This is where the ball tampering against Nottinghamshire in May and Ramprakash's ongoing contract saga does offer something weightier. He doesn't reveal anymore than is already known about the match at The Oval when Surrey were caught altering the ball but, to his credit, he doesn't hold back recounting the event, especially where the topic of him being held responsible. He recalls a conversation with Jason Radcliffe of the PCA: "'I'm not being held responsible for something that another individual has done. I can't be held accountable for that and I'm not going to lose money over it.'" Who says money isn't everything?

Ramprakash's comments over the relegation show how it does not carry anything like the stigma of the drop in football but the recollections of matches become staid and bland. We have probably all been spoilt by - or overwhelmed with - cricket books this year and this effort, like county cricket, will have a limited following.