Cricketing Lives

As famous for its complicated rules as it is for its contentious (and lengthy) matches, cricket is the quintessentially English sport. Or is it? From cricket in literature to sticky wickets, Cricketing Lives is a paean to the quirky characters and global phenomenon that are cricket. Cricket is defined by the characters who have played it, watched it, reported it, ruled upon it, ruined it, and rejoiced in it. Humorous and deeply affectionate, Cricketing Lives tells the story of the world’s greatest and most incomprehensible game through those who have shaped it, from the rustic contests of eighteenth-century England to the spectacle of the Indian Premier League. It’s about W. G. Grace and his eye to his wallet; the invincible Viv Richards; and Sarah Taylor, “the best wicketkeeper in the world.” Richard H. Thomas steers a course through the despair of war, tactical controversies, and internecine politics, to reveal how cricket has always warmed our hearts as nothing else can.

The book aims to illustrate that what is distinctive about any particular society is not the fact of its modernity, but rather its own unique debates about modernity. Behind the embattled arena of culture in India, for example, lie particular social and political interests such as the growing middle class, the entrepreneurs and commercial institutions, and the state. The contributors address the roles of these various intertwined interests in the making of India's public culture, each examining different sites of consumption. The sites which are explored include cinema, radio, cricket, restaurants and tourism. The book also makes distinct the differences among public, mass and popular culture.

Though he was an outstanding schoolboy cricketer at Rugby, Rockley Wilson (1879-1957) was required to leave the school shortly before his final season, for ‘examination irregularities’. He moved on to Cambridge, where, brought in to make up a visiting side, he scored a century in his first innings in first-class cricket. Three years later, in 1902, he was Cambridge captain. Later, as a schoolmaster and cricket coach at Winchester College, he brought on 39 boys to play first-class cricket. After he had been out of the side for ten years, playing only club and country house cricket, Yorkshire decided to give him, on merit, a regular place in his school vacation as a spin bowler of exceptional accuracy, in its mighty elevens on either side of the Great War. One August he took over the captaincy and steered the county home to the Championship. Selected for the 1920/21 tour of Australia, he upset the Australian crowd by writing for the Daily Express about a Test match he was playing in. He was widely recognised as a leading authority on cricket and its heritage and helped to re-write the Laws of the game in 1947. He left much of his collection of cricketana to the Lord’s museum. His wit, laced with litotes and literary allusions, has been anthologised. Few players of any era have matched the diversity of his contribution to the game. Martin Howe gives us a comprehensive account of a singular man of plural talents.

Bowler's Name is a tale of a life in cricket's margins. Tom Hicks is no household name, but he often rubbed shoulders with cricketing royalty, going from the village green to walking out as captain at Lord's. As an ambitious youngster, Hicks dreamed of reaching the top. But trying to make it big and balance the demands of university, family, a full-time job and a penchant for post-match fun was no easy feat. Settling for an unglamorous life as a minor county player, cricket took him to all corners of the country, and then across the globe, getting an insight into the nether regions of a cricketing world that was rapidly vanishing. Through the eyes of a cricket nut, Bowler's Name takes us on a journey of success, failure, hilarity and often sheer madness. If you've ever wondered what it's like to face 90mph bowling, to have lunch with Mike Gatting or to infiltrate an England post-match party, Hicks is your man. Bowler's Name is for fans of cricket idiosyncrasies, lovers of the underdog and anyone who has tried and failed.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins, or CMJ to his many fans as well as listeners of Test Match Special, was perhaps thevoice of cricket; an unparalleled authority whose insight and passion for cricket, as well as his style of commentary, captured what it is that makes the sport so special. In his many years as a commentator and journalist - reporting for the BBC, The Times and the Cricketeramong others - CMJ covered some of the biggest moments in the sport's history. And in this memoir he looks back on a lifetime spent in service to this most bizarre and beguiling of sports and tells the stories of the players, coaches and fans he met along the way. Recounted with all the warmth and vigour that has endeared CMJ to generations of cricket fans, this memoir relives the moments that defined modern cricket and which shaped his life in turn. It is a must-have book for all devotees of the sport.

The Shorter Wisden is a compelling distillation of what's best in its bigger brother – and the 2022 edition of Wisden is crammed, as ever, with the best writing in the game. Wisden's digital version includes the influential Notes by the Editor, and all the front-of-book articles. In an age of snap judgments, Wisden's authority and integrity are more important than ever. Yet again this year's edition is truly a “must-have” for every cricket fan. In essence, The Shorter Wisden is a glass of the finest champagne rather than the whole bottle. @WisdenAlmanack

Winner of the Cricket Writers' Club Book of the Year 2016 Shortlisted for the MCC Book of the Year Shortlisted for Cricket Book of the Year at the Sports Book Awards Scyld Berry draws on his experiences as a cricket writer of forty years to produce new insights and unfamiliar historical angles on the game, along with moving reflections on episodes from his own life. The author covers a range of themes including cricket in different areas of the world, and abstract concepts such as language, numbers, ethics and psychology; Scyld Berry relishes the joys cricket provides and is convinced of the positive effect it can have in people's lives. Cricket: The Game of Life is an inspiring book that reminds readers why they love the game and prompts them to look at it in a new way.