My Favourite Cricket Books
by Richard Lawrence
In this, the first of an occasional series, I have selected a few of the cricket books that I have most enjoyed over the last thirty years or so. Some have been chosen in their own right; others are representative of an author’s output. I have purposely omitted statistical works such as Wisden, and any book I have reviewed in the last three years.
John Arlott’s Cricket Journals
Besides being a peerless broadcaster, Arlott was a prolific writer, and I could have chosen any of several books for this feature. But I have opted for the ‘Cricket Journal’ series partly because they seem to be less celebrated than some of his other works, and partly because of the way they capture how cricket was played fifty years ago. There are four volumes in the series, from 1958 to 1961. The first three cover not only the Test series against New Zealand, India and South Africa, but also the County Championship campaigns, and the writing for the county games is every bit as lively and accomplished as that for the Tests. The fourth covers mainly the Ashes Tests of 1961, which is a shame, as I suspect Arlott would have relished writing in detail on the season in which the title was won for the first time by his beloved Hampshire.
The books can be obtained fairly easily through the Internet or via dealers for between £5 and £10 per volume.
Neville Cardus: Australian Summer
Almost any book by Cardus could have been included here, but this was the first of his that I ever read. I found a copy in my school library when I was a boy, and having seen repeated references to him in the cricket press as the finest writer on the game, I decided to borrow it. At that stage, I knew little of the 1936-37 Ashes tour which the book describes, or of the participants in the games, but despite this, I was transfixed, and now, more than thirty years later, it remains my favourite Cardus book. To read it is to be carried back to Australia in the 1930s, and if you have not yet read it, I would recommend it as the perfect accompaniment to this winter’s Ashes series.
The book was reprinted in the 1980s and copies can be obtained fairly easily for under £5.
Jack Fingleton: The Ashes Crown the Year
Again, I first came across this book when I was a boy, purchasing a rather bedraggled copy from a second-hand bookshop while on holiday in Devon because I recognised the name as a celebrated cricket writer. I could easily have chosen his first book, Cricket Crisis (a remarkable debut), and Batting from Memory is an enjoyable autobiography, but I opted for The Ashes Crown the Year because of its breadth of perspective. It is more than just a cricket book; it is a snapshot of England in Coronation Year, including a description of the ceremony itself, written by a life-long Anglophile whose affection for the country suffuses the whole book.
Like the Cardus book, it was reprinted in the 1980s, and copies can be obtained fairly easily for under £5.
David Frith: The Trailblazers
I might have chosen Bodyline Autopsy here, which if not the last word on the subject—there are some interesting revisionist accounts of the 1932-33 series starting to appear—is probably the most authoritative. There have been many books about Bodyline, but I do not believe there have been any others about the first ever English cricket tour of Australia in 1861-62 (which even saw the first use of the term ‘Test match’). Frith’s carefully researched account covers not only the cricket but also the social background to the tour and some of the hardships of touring in what was a very primitive time, as well as some remarkable photos. When one considers how dull and lifeless some more recent tour accounts have been, the vividness of this account is extraordinary, and it is moreover an extremely important contribution to cricket history.
Available second-hand from about £5.
MA Noble: Gilligan’s Men
Former Australian captain Monty Noble wrote several Ashes accounts in the 1920s, and brings to them all his knowledge and understanding of the game, notably an acute tactical brain which makes his accounts so incisive. This volume covers the 1924-25 series, not an especially happy tour for England, but the quality of the writing more than makes up for the disappointment of an Ashes defeat.
Originals can be expensive, but the book was reprinted in the 1950s and the reprint can be obtained very cheaply.
This article first appeared in The Cricket Statistician for Winter 2020. To join the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, and subscribe to the journal, please visit our website: