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Unlike other sports, cricket - and especially the club cricket of England and the British Isles - allows weekend players to rub shoulders with international stars and even superstars in a fully competitive context, resulting in memorable experiences (both on and off the field) for pros and amateurs alike.These magical stories are unique to cricket, yet no one has collected them in one place. Until now. Tirelessly researched and written with flair, wit and a deep understanding of amateur cricket, this third instalment of Sticky Dogs and Stardust is (like its predecessors) a must-read for every cricket-lover, and will also appeal to those interested in the sporting and social history of the UK.Playersfeatured include Allan Border, Sourav Ganguly, Javed Miandad, Justin Langer,Carl Hooper, Martin Crowe, Andy Flower, Mushtaq Ahmed, Merv Hughes, SF Barnes,Patrick Patterson and more. The first volume of Sticky Dogs and Stardust was named the Wisden Book of the Year in 2024, also earning Oliver the title of JM Kilburn Cricket Writer of the Year and nominations for the Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year 2024, and the Sports Book Awards 2024. In August 2025, Oliver set up a Facebook page called 'Cricket Superstars in the Leagues' to extend and promote the Sticky Dogs and Stardust project. As of December 2025 it already has 5,000 follower

The All-India 1932 tour of Britain came at a crucial moment in the history of the Indian subcontinent. As British and Indian politicians waged ferocious battles to control India's future, the fledgling cricket team became intertwined with the stormy politics of the British Raj. India's unlikely first captain, the conscientious Maharaja of Porbandar, had to steer a divided team through the perils and pitfalls that nearly spelled disaster for the new Board of Control for Cricket in India. Instead, it proved to be the first step on the Board's journey to becoming cricket's superpower.The story features some of the great names in cricket history - the mysterious Ranji, Douglas Jardine the architect of Bodyline, and CK Nayudu, India's first cricket superstar. There are also walk-on parts for historical titans such as Gandhi, Nehru and Churchill, and major roles for several memorable Indian princes. The narrative's first half traces the emergence of the BCCI and its turbulent quest to organise a debut Test for India while the second follows the fortunes of the 1932 tour, culminating in the Test itself - a match which turned out to be a classic. The power struggles over the destiny of India's new team mirrored the simultaneous contest to remake India. Drawing on contemporary newspaper reports and previously unseen archive material,Lord's and Maharajas unpicks the complexities of the story with a light, engaging style. Against a backdrop of assassination plots and political turmoil, the book reveals just how high the stakes became for India's first international cricketers in this moment of imperial crisis.

Eleven cricket-themed short stories, each set in a different country.

The Glory Gardens cricket team return for their ninth adventure, this time travelling to Australia to play in their own Ashes contest.

Test your knowledge of cricket over a wide range of topics: not only run outs and centuries but also cricketers who share their names with film stars and animals - everything from 'Tipping the Scales' to 'Holy Orders'. There are 18 picture rounds - memorable moments of cricket history and images of celebrity cricketers - and 16 rounds where well-known cricketers have set questions about themselves. Perfect rain break reading - full of fun and quirkiness! All proceeds are being donated to the Professional Cricketers' Association's Trust.

The story of Ernie Foord, the local Somerset lad who in 1897, at the age of 16, was appointed club professional at the fast-developing and prestigious Burnham & Berrow Golf Club. In June 1912, on its 18-hole championship links, he played arguably the most remarkable round in the history of golf, completing the course in 73 strokes, using only a single club, a putter. In the words of Bernard Darwin, golf correspondent of The Times, it was 'a truly astonishing score because Burnham is neither a particularly short nor a particularly easy course'. The following year, over 36 holes, Foord defeated the five-time Open champion JH Taylor. Then in 1916 he emigrated to the United States where he landed the plum job of professional at Oakland Hills. This is an account - factual in some parts, imagined in others - not just of Ernie Foord's career and achievements but of the golfing world as it was in the early years of the 20th century, with its snobbery as well as its opportunities.

TheRecord of a Long Life, written in 1896, is the memoir of HenryPilleau, army surgeon, traveller and artist.Spanningmost of the 19th century, it offers revealing insights into the changes inthose years: from a description of his childhood home in Kennington looking outon an open expanse of countryside to his observations on the impact of tourismon the ancient marvels of Egypt.He served inIndia before and after the Mutiny and in Ireland during the Great Famine and aFenian rebellion. He records in fascinating detail the conditions in which hepractised and the medical improvements he made.The memoir isa rich kaleidoscope. On one page there is an amusing conversation withConstable about Turner's work; on another we read of hair-raising encounterswith tigers. He reminds the Governor-General of India that they had beenroom-mates at school; he tells of an audience with the King of Franceimmediately after an attempted assassination; he relates the sad story of acaptured Andaman islander and his months as medical companion to a sickly12-year-old Lord Herbert on an eventful trip to the Holy Land. The novelist CharlesDickens, the billiards champion Kentfield, the unconventional Arabist Lady DuffGordon and the actor Charles Kean all appear. But it is as an artist and atraveller that Henry Pilleau is at his most observant, never happier than whensketching in his favourite cities, Cairo and Venice. This volumeweaves his art into the pages of the memoir, the result being an engaging mixof social history and art.

WISDEN BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR 2024Brian Close was one of the most remarkable characters of post-war English cricket. Known for his great bravery against fast bowling and for his fearless close fielding, he led both Yorkshire and England with great success, yet in controversial circumstances he was sacked both times from the captaincy.In 'One Hell of a Life', Stephen Chalke draws on conversations over the past 25 years, both with Brian Close himself and with team-mates, opponents and family, many of them, like Close, no longer living.The result is a fascinating portrait of an unusual man, one who might have reached greater heights if he had adopted more of a safety-first approach to life - but then he would not have been Brian Close: daring, defiant and at times daft. An outstanding leader, he lived his life as he drove his cars: fast and reckless, with many a prang along the way.The story of Brian Close is a tale like no other in cricket, rich with humour but at times hauntingly sad. His loss of the England captaincy is set in the context of the social attitudes of the time, with cricket still run by an amateur class distrustful of a single-minded Yorkshireman who played always to win.

The diary of a Gurkha officer imprisoned by the Japanese during World War Two. Amidst starvation, disease and brutality, the creation and tending of vegetable gardens became a vital lifeline, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.'Half A Banana' tells the unusual wartime story of Peter Kemmis Betty and Alec Ogilvie, childhood friends who as Gurkha officers found themselves captured by the Japanese in 1942 and marched to Changi prisoner-of-war camp in Singapore. Two of the few who remained for the whole of their captivity in Singapore, they helped to manage the gardens that produced food for thousands of fellow Allied prisoners.During these years Peter Kemmis Betty kept a diary of life at Changi, where with no sense of an ending the prisoners did everything possible to maintain morale, developing a deep loyalty to each other. Their enterprising spirit was epitomised not just by the hard work on the gardens but by the many efforts prisoners made to lead a ‘normal’ life. Despite the toughness of their lives Peter harboured no bitterness towards the Japanese.Published for the eightieth anniversary of VJ Day, the diary paints one of the most complete pictures of what life was like in Changi from 1942 to 1945.Profits from this book are being donated to the Pahar Trust Nepal, a charity set up by two Gurkha engineers to support schools in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Mark Alleyne was one of the most successful captains in the history of countycricket, leading the little-fancied Gloucestershire to seven trophies in sixyears. Now he has returned to Gloucestershire as Head Coach, the county winninga further trophy in his first year back.Here in Pack yourBags, Brother he talks about his life and shares the story of thosesuccesses: from his formative years in Barbados and the ground-breakingHaringey Cricket College to becoming Gloucestershire's youngest centurion andleading the county in those golden years.Along the way we learnof the onerous duties of a twelfth man servicing the eccentric Jack Russell'sneeds, the shock of a prison sentence in Kenya, the experience of captaining anEngland 'A' tour in the Caribbean and the emotions of scoring a century in thefirst Cup triumph at Lord's.Then, as his career moves into coaching, we get a parent'saccount of his son Max's progress from Coalpit Heath Under-7s to England'sUnder-21 football team.A deep thinker,interested in sports psychology, he reflects on his life story, the charactershe has known, the nature of successful teamwork and the way the game haschanged in the forty years since his county debut: the growing role of thecoach and the impact of franchise cricket.It is an uplifting anda thought-provoking story, rich with the humanity and wisdom of a special andmost popular cricketer.

A biography of John Wisden, a key pioneer in the rapid spread of cricket's popularity in the middle years of the nineteenth century. He created the United England Eleven, a touring team of professional cricketers. He established shops that were ground-breaking in the sale of sports equipment. He developed the Cricketers' Fund Friendly Society, supporting professional cricketers in times of need. And, most memorably, he launched the Almanack that is still in the twenty-first century considered to be the 'bible of cricket'.

Geoffrey Boycott is undoubtedly one of England’s greatest ever batsmen. Playing 108 Test matches between 1964 and 1982, the hugely controversial opener scored a then record 8,114 runs at 47.72 – the highest completed average of any English player since 1970 – against some of the greatest bowlers the world has ever seen.When the first lockdown came, finding himself without cricket for the first time in his life, Geoffrey Boycott sat down and began to write a retrospective warts-and-all diary of each of his Test match appearances. It is illuminating and unsparing, characterised by Boycott’s astonishing memory, famous forthrightness and unvarnished, sometimes lacerating, honesty. That 100,000 word document forms the basis for Being Geoffrey Boycott, a device that takes the reader inside Geoffrey’s head and back through cricket history, presenting a unique portrait of the internal and external forces that compelled him from a pit village in Yorkshire to the pinnacle of the world game.Now 81 and still one of the most recognisable cricketers England has ever produced, Boycott has teamed up with award-winning author Jon Hotten in this catalogue of his tumultuous time with the national side. Dropped for scoring a slow double hundred, making himself unavailable to play for England for several years, captain for eight seasons of a group of strong, stroppy and extremely talented players at Yorkshire, bringing up his hundredth hundred at Headingley against the Old Enemy, seeing David Gower and Ian Botham emerge as future greats, playing under Mike Brearley in the 1981 Ashes, in this enlightening book Boycott reveals a host of never-before-heard details regarding his peers and his playing days.

Packed with revealing anecdotes, Percival explores the often complex relationship between the media and top-level sport, providing expert guidance on themes such as leaks, mind games and how to handle criticism.The book covers all the crucial aspects of dealing with the media in its increasingly numerous forms – the tactics to employ, interview strategies and the importance of building relationships. This is a reference book for every professional sports coach and for leaders in other industries, but it is much more than a self-help management guide. Written in an accessible style and full of compelling content from its star-studded cast of interviewees, it will appeal to every sports fan.Using the extensive contacts list he has built up whilst working in sports communications and marketing roles over the last 20 years, Percival has conducted exclusive interviews with 27 top coaches across ten different sports including ex-Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, McLaren Formula 1 boss Zak Brown and ex-Wales rugby union coach Warren Gatland. Renowned sports journalists, broadcasters and performance psychologists also have their say, offering a range of alternative perspectives. The result is an in-depth and unique insight into sports media communications.

The best schoolboy rackets player in the country; the Sussex player whose first three first-class wickets werea hat trick of internationals; and yes, he did postpone his wedding to play his only Test for his country on thesex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll tour of New Zealand; the man who has injected himself as a diabetes sufferer everyday for the past 35 years; the figurehead of the deckchair revolution that led to Sussex winning the first CountyChampionship title in their history; the oesophageal cancer sufferer who has overcome the illness.And yes, these are all one man. Anthony Charles Shackleton Pigott. As befits a distant relative of the explorerErnest Shackleton, it’s one hell of a story.Told with the brutal honesty of a man who knows his cricket never scaled the heights but, after 46 full years inthe game as player, coach, chief executive, pitch inspector and match referee, is now on a mission to help othercricketers suffering from cancer.

No sport does storytelling like cricket – a game as full of heroes, villains, politics and drama as anyShakespearean play.And few have explored those stories as far and wide as the presenters of the award-winning and belovedpodcast The Final Word, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins. Over hundreds of episodes of Story Time, the historyspin-off to the podcast, they have followed their listeners’ clues to track down the wildest characters, matchesand situations the game has ever seen.Bedtime Tales for Cricket Tragics brings together the stories they enjoyed telling most, such as the 1879 riot inSydney sparked by an umpire’s call, the all-rounder who tried to rob the Catholic Church, the biggest defeat inhistory, and much, much more.Produced as a small hardback with fabulous original illustrations by Karen Wallis, Bedtime Tales is perfect forthe casual cricket fan and would make an excellent Christmas or birthday gift.

The 47th edition tells you everything you need to know about every single player from all 18 counties and includes an in-depth women's section to take in the growing number of professional female cricketers within the new domestic structure.Nigh-on 600 players have answered questions ranging from the opponent they most enjoy playing against to their lives away from cricket, giving readers an exclusive insight into everyone who will be competing this summer. Detailed career statistics are included for each player, plus there is a round-up of the 2025 season, including tables, averages and MVPs.There are profiles of all the head coaches, a look at how each county is shaping up for the new season, and fixture lists for the England men's and women's teams.

Writers in Whites is the untold story of cricket’s influential role inLondon’s literary world, from the 1880s to the 1960s. PG Wodehouse used his cricket-playing to launch his writing career. JM Barrie modelled the pirates in Peter Pan after his cricket teammates. Arthur Conan Doyle named Sherlock Holmes after a cricketer he'd played against. They all belonged to a network of cricket-playing writers, who collectively left a permanent legacy on English culture. Their teams went by various names, but most often they called themselves the Authors. Based on a wealth of new research, The Literary Cricketers tells the story of this group, from Jerome K. Jerome via Evelyn Waugh to Michael Morpurgo.It wasn't simply that lots of important writers happened to like playing cricket together. The of playing for the Authors influenced their careers and their writings - both through networking opportunities and by helping to shape their cultural outlook. The literary cricketers weathered scandals and ferocious culture wars, but they also wrote numerous memoirs describing their antics on and around the cricket field.T he Literary Cricketers draws on their books and unpublished letters, letting these men narrate, in their own words, how literary cricket played a key role in their lives.The full story - which provides a fresh way of viewing English cultural history from the 1880s to the1960s - has never been told before. Literary cricket played a role in the rise of mass literature before theFirst World War, and in rallying resistance to the Modernists in interwar London. It also drew in some ofthe great names of twentieth-century Test cricket, such as CB Fry, Douglas Jardine, Learie Constantine ,Len Hutton and Richie Benaud as well as cricket writers and reporters such as EV Lucas, Neville Cardus, EW Swanton and Henry Blofeld.

“The eyes behind these glasses tell a thousand stories”. Adishevelled and partied-out Andrew Freddie Flintoff spoke these immortal wordsat a victory parade in Trafalgar Square where 50,000 England cricket fans hadcome to celebrate the team which had just given them the summer of theirdreams. The first England Ashes victory for 18 long years. One still heraldedas the greatest Ashes ever.Ben Wyatt’s Ragged Splendour is a personal memoir of thattime, that heady, glorious summer, as one of the fans in the crowd that daywho, like Fred, was blinking into the light wondering, “Did that reallyhappen?”A collection of 41 poems, Ragged Splendour captures theauthor’s experience of and emotional reactions that special cricketing summer –what was happening, what it meant to him, how his life organised around it –and it reflects what he saw in the dynamic of a young team of still forming talents, navigating theirambition and relations with each other under a firebrand captain, and therising expectations that they could achieve something remarkable. In amongst that, 2005 was a summer full of incident,sometime celebratory, sometimes harrowing. In July, London won the bid to hostthe 2012 Olympic Games; a day later the worst terrorist attack on British soilstruck the London transport system during morning rush hour. The iconic moments across the summer are all reflected here– the Lord’s pavilion in uproar, Ponting’s cut cheek, McGrath collapsing on aball, 407-7, the Pratt run-out, the first T20 International, that Flintoffover, Strauss’s Superman catch, Harmison to Clark, Giles and Hoggard at TrentBridge, the last-gasp win at Edgbaston, the Flintoff-Lee handshake, thePietersen 158, Richie Benaud’s final commentary, the party of 1,000 stories,Trafalgar Square (twice), the Prime Minister’s rose garden, and what actuallyhappened to the dislodged bails that signified victory on the final day.And then there’s Shane Warne. The Australian icon took 40wickets that summer while on the losing side. The Oval crowd at the fifth andfinal Test serenaded him with “We only wish you were English”. Ragged Splendouroffers a tribute to his memory and the game he made richer for his presence.

‘Cricket is battle and service and sport and art’ says Douglas Jardine as he dreams up brutal tactics tobeat the Australians in the 1930s. It’s also about class and race, language and reflection, it’s timelessand it’s ‘just a game’. It’s Empire and sunset, death and renewal, children and long-ago memories. Sometimes, it’s just dust and sunburn.The fractured dreams of wide-eyed children feature alongside the exploded rhythms of a day spent not watching but feeling the game, measured and deliberate and not always under control. The emotional range of cricket’s living theatre is fully explored as ordinary actions are transformed into myth and back again. The rhythms of play are insisted upon and exploded.

Zaheer Abbas is rightly celebrated as one of Pakistan’sgreatest batters, and his relationship with the UK also occupies a specialplace in cricket history. England was not merely a venue where he played; itwas a stage on which his artistry flourished, his reputation soared, and hislegacy became woven into the fabric of British cricket culture.From majestic Test centuries – he averaged over 50 againstEngland – to prolific county cricket seasons and a profound influence ongenerations of British Asian cricketers, Zaheer’s impact in the UK was huge. Ata time when Pakistan was still shaping its identity on the global stage, andwith cricket such an important part of the nation’s culture, he emerged as asymbol of elegance, consistency, and quiet authority.Born on 24 July, 1947, in Sialkot, mere weeks before thecreation of Pakistan, Zaheer grew up in a nation finding its voice, and cricketquickly became one of its most powerful expressions of pride and unity. From ayoung boy who would sneak out of the house and cross the river to a makeshiftground where villagers would bowl at him for hours on end, to a bespectacledyoung batter who scored 274 in his first ever Test match innings in England, tobecoming a county stalwart with Gloucestershire, to playing in Kerry Packer’sWorld Series Cricket, to scoring a century of centuries – the only Asian batterto have done so – in a Test match against great rivals India, to captaining hiscountry, to marrying an Indian girl, and to becoming just the third cricketerto hold the role of ICC president, Zaheer’s is a cricketing life like no other.In this definitive autobiography, he talks us through thehighs and lows, the friendships and rivalries from a truly fascinating periodof cricketing history, with giants of cricket like Imran Khan, Javed Miandad,Geoffrey Boycott, Dennis Lillee and the mighty West Indies, graced the game.

The mysterious obituary of a woman cricketer in Auckland. A young Australian killer under siege by the police. Sherlock Holmes's extraordinary day at the Oval. These and other stories (eleven of them plus a sub) provide more twists and turns than a thrilling test match. Bob Cattell's second collection of short stories once again takes the reader on a world tour. Linked by the theme of cricket, each tale is shot through with wit, humour and drama.

In this highly entertaining book Fred Rumsey looks back on an eventful life, in which he opened the bowling for England in five Tests, single-handedly advanced the idea of a Professional Cricketers’ Association, pioneered the development of public relations in cricket, played a leading role in the expansion of the Lord’s Taverners and developed cricket and football tournaments in the Caribbean.There is fun aplenty, as befits one who was a friend of comedians Eric Morecambe and Dave Allen, but there is also a sense of social purpose, to be found not only in the years when he took on cricket’s establishment but in his long service to the charity work of the Lord’s Taverners and his close bond with the anti-apartheid South African journalist Donald Woods.From the poignancy of his description of an East End childhood during the Blitz to the wonderfully funny tale of his sharing a hotel room with Geoffrey Boycott, 'Sense of Humour, Sense of Justice' is full of delights – with insights into a rich array of characters, among them David Gower, Bobby Moore, David Frost and his great mate Colin Milburn.