Sir Neville Cardus became cricket correspondent of the the 'Manchester Guardian' quite by chance, when the editor at that time saw that the game would be the perfect vehicle for his talents while he recuperated after a nervous breakdown. He was to create a cricket intelligentsia, lifting the writing on this sport to a height never equalled before. He became the Guardian's cricket correspondent in 1919, John Atlott described Cardus's cricket writing as: "Before him, cricket was reported ... with him it was for the first time appreciated, felt, and imaginatively described". He was awarded a knighthood in 1967, was president of Lancashire County Cricket Club 1971-72 and died in 1975. Sir Rupert Hart-Davis was an English publisher and man-of-letters.

For any person, irrelevant whether he knows a thing about cricket or not, this book will remain a treasure. A must buy for any cricket fanatic and a must read for any lover of fine writing.