Born to run: how sporting seasons determine success It's all down to whether your birthday falls in the football or cricket season that dictates sporting prowess Graham Gooch is one of seven players in Wisden's list of England's top-10 Test batsmen to be born during Bristish summer time. Photograph: Adrian Murrell/Allsport With the clocks rejigged to end British summer time this weekend, I was pondering seasonal matters when I came across one of 2009's bestseller paperbacks, Outliers: The Story of Success (Penguin, £9.99), by New Yorker whizz-kid Malcolm Gladwell. In an enviably skilful mix of pop psychology, anecdote, smoke, mirrors and statistical analysis, the author gaily and glibly piles surmise upon ye bleedin' obvious to conclude life's a doddling cinch as long as you're born in the right place at the right time.... [read full story]
