*Standard format paperback* The 156th edition of the most famous sports book in the world--published every year since 1864--contains some of the finest sports writing of the year and covers every first-class game in every cricket nation, making it the cricketers' bible worldwide. @WisdenAlmanack

For cricket enthusiasts there is nothing to match the meaningful contests and excitement generated by the game's subtle shifts in play. Conversely, huge swathes of the world's population find cricket the most obscure and bafflingly impenetrable of sports. The Changing Face of Cricket attempts to account for this paradox. The Changing Face of Cricket provides an overview of the various ways in which social scientists have analyzed the game's cultural impact. The book's international analysis encompasses Australia, the Caribbean, England, India, Ireland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Its interdisciplinary approach allies anthropology, history, literary criticism, political studies and sociology with contributions from cricket administrators and journalists. The collection addresses historical and contemporary issues such as gender equality, global sports development, the impact of cricket mega-events, and the growing influence of commercial and television interests culminating in the Twenty20 revolution. Whether one loves or hates the game, understands what turns square legs into fine legs, or how mid-offs become silly, The Changing Face of Cricket will enlighten the reader on the game's cultural contours and social impact and prove to be the essential reader in cricket studies. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Jazbaa Definition: spirit, feeling, passion, desire, sentiment, emotion In 1996, Shaiza Khan led a Pakistan team on a tour of New Zealand and Australia. While the tour was a failure on the cricketing front, the singular act of eleven women wearing flannels and battling for victory in the faraway antipodes was a significant achievement. These women had - individually and collectively - worked to throw off the shackles of social and cultural decrees that had conspired to keep Pakistani women away from sport for years. Even more importantly, these players were harbingers of change who became heroic role models for women back home and all around the world. Unveiling Jazbaa tells the story of Pakistan's women's cricket, detailing the extraordinary journey the players have been on to bring about change both in their country and in the sport itself. This is a tale told through the lens of society and politics, of personal battles and triumphs against the odds, of friendships and rivalries, of favours and revenge. Above all else, it is story of bravery and unerring will and a moving testimony to power of the human spirit. Foreword by Kamila Shamsie 'Compelling, ambitious, beautifully written and about so much more than cricket' - Tim Wigmore, The Telegraph and author of the multiple award-winning Cricket 2.0

Winning takes many forms. For fans of Matthew Syed, this is a great sports book about leadership, judgement and decision-making - rooted in the theory that helped Ed Smith lead England cricket to sustained success. And to help us all win more. 'An absolutely fascinating book' THE GAME, The Times football pod How do you spot the opportunities that others miss? How do you turn a team's performance around? How do you make good decisions amid a tidal wave of information? And how can you improve? As chief selector for the England cricket team, Ed Smith pioneered new methods for building successful teams and watched his decisions tested in real time on the pitch. During his three-year tenure, England averaged 7 wins in every 10 completed matches, better than they have performed before or since. Making Decisions reveals Smith's unique approach to finding success in a fast-changing and increasingly data-reliant world. The best decisions, Smith argues, rely on a combination of differing kinds of intelligence: from algorithms to intuition. This is a truth that the most successful people know: data cannot account for everything, it must be harnessed with human insight. Whatever the power of data, humans aren't finished yet. Sharing for the first time the tools he introduced as England selector, Smith's book captures the immediacy of life at the sharp end, while also exploring frameworks from the top levels of sports, business and the arts. Decision-making is revealed as a creative enterprise, not a reductive system. Making Decisions offers an invaluable guide for those who want a better framework for developing, explaining and implementing new ideas.

What is it like to follow the sun as a T20 gun for hire? Dan Christian is one of the world's most sought after cricketers, not only a star for the Sydney Sixers but having been part of teams in premier leagues from India and Pakistan to South Africa and the Caribbean. In The All-Rounder, he takes us on a globe-trotting tour from Karachi to Cardiff, from the billion-dollar Indian Premier League, where he played for Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore, to the inaugural season of England's new franchise competition The Hundred, where he led Manchester Originals. It was a never-ending summer like no other, shadowed by COVID-19, encased in bio-secure bubbles, in which Dan also reflected on his indigenous heritage and grappled with imminent fatherhood, all the while concentrating on a fast-evolving, high-stakes game in which you're a champion one day, a chump the next.

For more than four decades Jim Maxwell has called the cricket for the ABC. Since 1973 he has covered over 250 Test matches, including six tours to the West Indies, seven to the subcontinent, over fifty Ashes Tests and five World Cups. His distinctive voice, dryly understated humour and immense knowledge of the game have been part of the fabric of Australian cricket for forty years. In his long-awaited autobiography he reflects on his life and career in a book that is fascinating, warm, nostalgic and uniquely informed about the game he loves and has dedicated his career to.

Paul Edwards is a beautiful writer. He can express the moods and emotions of a day as well as anyone. And his love for the game - and those involved in it - pours off every page of this book. But because he has interests far beyond the boundary - in politics and people, in music and history - he is as likely to quote Mott the Hoople as Herman Melville; as likely to cite the repeal of the corn laws as regulations regarding Kolpak registrations. His work is all the richer and more satisfying for it. He knows that not everything that counts can be counted. He knows you can't define love or loyalty or a million things in between. So he tells us how a day's play feels. He tells us about the people and places. He tells us why it matters but knows it doesn't matter too much.

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.

*A MULTIPLE AWARD-WINNING SPORTS WRITER* 'Hamilton's book is a marvel . . . I'm not sure he could write a dull sentence if he tried' Spectator One of Duncan Hamilton's favourite writers on cricket, Edmund Blunden, wrote how he felt going to watch a game: 'You arrive early, earlier even than you meant . . . and you feel a little guilty at the thought of the day you propose to give up to sheer luxury'. Following Neville Cardus's assertion that 'there can be no summer in this land without cricket', Hamilton plotted the games he would see in 2019 and write down reflectively on some of the cricket that blessed his own sight. It would be captured in the context of the coming season in case subsequent summers and the imminent arrival of The Hundred made that impossible. He would write in the belief that after this season the game might never be quite the same again. He visits Welbeck Colliery Cricket Club to see Nottinghamshire play Hampshire at the tiny ground of Sookholme, gifted to the club by a local philanthropist who takes money on the gate; his village team at Menston in Yorkshire; the county ground at Hove; watches Ben Stokes's heroics at Headingley, marvels at Jofra Archer's gift of speed in a Second XI fixture for Sussex against Gloucestershire in front of 74 people and three well-behaved dogs; and realises when he reaches the last afternoon of the final county match of the season at Taunton, 'How blessed I am to have been born here. How I never want to live anywhere else. How much I love cricket.' One Long and Beautiful Summer forms a companion volume to Hamilton's 2009 classic, A Last English Summer. It is sports writing at its most accomplished and evocative, confirming his reputation as the finest contemporary chronicler of the game.

In 2014, Kevin Pietersen's autobiography was one of the most talked about sporting media stories of the year, largely due to the shockwaves it sent through the cricketing establishment. Now, Kevin turns his focus to events on the pitch, offering his views on what it takes to be a successful cricketer in the modern age. This summer's Ashes series has demonstrated just how demanding and unpredictable the game has become, and Kevin is ideally - perhaps uniquely - placed to comment on those developments. In KEVIN PIETERSEN ON CRICKET we'll see exactly how today's player approaches batting, bowling, bowling, captaincy, preparation, and many other aspects of the game itself, through the prism of the author's own experience. We'll see what it's like to face a bowler like Mitchell Johnson at his menacing best, learn how cricketers cope with the challenges presented by foreign climates and conditions, and gain a fresh understanding of how players manage the psychological side of the game.

'Punchy’s Hampshire Years' tells the story of Alan Rayment’s life from 1949 to 1959, the years when he spent his summers inside the game of cricket. The book, following on from 'Punchy through the Covers', was to be the second of a three-volume autobiography, but sadly Alan Rayment died before he was able to complete it. Stephen Chalke has drawn together the written chapters, as well as notes, taped conversations and other titbits, to complete the story. There are delightful insights into the life of a professional county cricketer in the 1950s, a fascinating account of the successful ballroom dancing business that Alan and his wife Betty developed during those years and powerful descriptions of the life-changing spiritual experiences that led him to leave behind his life in cricket and dance. Even when he spends the summer of 1959 as an assistant coach at Lord’s, Alan’s radical thinking comes to the fore, generating a most surprising tale. In the words of his former Hampshire captain Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Alan Rayment had 'great ability and insight into people’s characters' and 'a number of qualities unusual in the normal first-class cricketer’ – and 'Punchy’s Hampshire Years' bears that out. Warmth and humour combine with a free-thinking spirit, ever curious to explore fresh worlds and new ideas, making this a stimulating memoir which is, indeed, much more ‘unusual’ than one by a ‘normal first-class cricketer’.

THE HILARIOUS NEW BOOK FROM ONE OF BRITAIN'S BEST-LOVED NATIONAL TREASURES! This is not a book of life lessons. But Freddie Flintoff has had a moment to reflect and he's noticed that throughout his four decades, although there's been little method in the madness, there has been the occasional common thread. The Book of Fred is filled with anecdotes, observations and the odd opinion all told with Fred's trademark humour and no-nonsense style. Fred's approach to life draws on the sublime (his series winning performance in the 2005 Ashes) and the ridiculous (singing Elvis Presley's 'Suspicious Minds' in front of a live audience), from highs (making the transition to top TV presenter) to occasional lows (accidentally upsetting the lovely Bruce Forsyth), from the profane (discussing Shane Warne's barnet with Hollywood royalty) to the profound (why 'having a go' leads to self-respect). Throughout, Fred shares his code for success, happiness and a life fully lived - and gives his readers a laugh, some joy, and (the occasional) pause for thought along the way.

Cricket Banter is all the rage among the cricketing cognoscenti and the chat, the sledging and the humour behind the game is all covered here, by those boys at The Middle Stump, in conjunction with Factor 50. Here we cover most aspects of cricket, as we speak with some of the finest, funniest, larger than life characters from the sport over the last thirty years, along with a selection of hilarious stories about the game. It's a highly amusing book; read it and you'll see why most cricketers, whether from club, county or international level, as well as the sport's most prominent journalists are all talking about those cheeky chaps from The Middle Stump, and their alternative take on the game of cricket.

Brush up on your cricket knowledge of the Ashes with a hilarious and alternative guide to cricket's most fiercely contested series. In this laugh-out-loud follow up to the Sunday Times bestseller Tuffers' Cricket Tales, ex-England cricketer, TV personality and Test Match Special commentator Phil Tufnell offers his unique take on the whole Ashes experience. Drawing on incidents from his own colourful career and the reminiscences of great English and Aussie cricket characters, both past and present, Tuffers highlights all the elements that make for a truly memorable Ashes series, on and off the pitch. Heroic performances, personal 'Cat-astrophes', bonkers selections, cultural clashes between Poms and Ockers, slanderous sledges, dubious tactics, odd superstitions, touring high-jinx and nail-biting finishes are all on the agenda as he delves into the 131-year history of a unique sporting institution. Along the way, Tuffers, who played in five Ashes series without ever getting close to laying his hands on the famous urn, aims to discover the key to winning what is the ultimate prize for any English or Australian cricketer Shot through with his love and knowledge of cricket, Tuffers' Alternative Guide to the Ashes is written with the characteristic cheeky charm which made Phil Tufnell a firm favourite of England's Barmy Army (and a target for good-natured abuse from fans Down Under). Raves for Tuffers' Cricket Tales: 'Hilarious' (Daily Star Sunday); 'Amusing' (All Out Cricket) Five star reader reviews for Tuffers' Alternative Guide to the Ashes: 'An excellent book. The words come to life in pictures. A great read' 'A light, non-demanding, entertaining read - I definitely recommend this book whether you're into cricket or not. I found myself giggling out loud!' 'I enjoyed stories about old time cricketers that I recall from the 60s 70s and 80s especially. Very suitable for dipping in and out of'

Malcolm Nash achieved sporting immortality as the bowler hit for a world-record six sixes by the legendary batsman Garry Sobers at Swansea in 1968 but, as Malcolm himself notes, although this single over made his name well-known, it should not define his long and distinguished cricketing career. A highly regarded bowler, Malcolm played over 600 matches for Glamorgan between 1966 and 1983, taking over 1,300 wickets, had an England trial and was unlucky not to receive international recognition. In Not Only, But Also, his sporting memoir published fifty years after the historic day in Swansea, Malcolm not only looks back at that over at St Helen's but also explores and celebrates his wider achievements with ball and bat, painting an intriguing and nostalgic picture of county cricket, and the life of a county cricketer, in the 1960s and 1970s. Described by his friend John Arlott as `a highly skilful manipulator of medium-pace seam bowling', Malcolm's story is of a cricketing life full of excitement and incident. It is a career remembered not only for that single over bowled to the best cricketer in the world, but also by much, much more.

When Cricket and Politics Collided describes one of the most extraordinary periods in the history of English cricket. A meeting on 27 August 1968 to select the players for a MCC winter tour of South Africa started a chain of events which would shake the very foundations of the cricket establishment. Over the next two years tours were cancelled, another abandoned and finally one of the founding Test playing nations banned from international cricket for over twenty years. Remarkably during this upheaval, and at very short notice, two replacement Test series were played. The first between between Pakistan and England, took place in a country where law and order were disintigrating and as a result the tour schedule was changing on an almost daily basis. The players were under enormous stress, their safety genuinely at risk, and even the country's President would soon be deposed. The second, pitted England against the Rest of the World, opponents that many considered to be the strongest ever assembled for an international match. These two series produced some of the most exciting cricket of the period, and yet both are now largely forgotten.

Glamorgan CCC is Wales' sole representative in the world of county cricket. Formed in 1888, the Club at first faced some difficult years before joining the Minor County Championship in 1897. After a series of successful summers, they were admitted into the first-class game in 1921 but this initially proved a massive step for the Cardiff-based club to take, as defeats became more commonplace than victories. However, after overcoming financial uncertainties in the 1930s, and the loss of their influential captain, Maurice Turnbull, during the Second World War, Glamorgan won the County Championship title in 1948 under Wilf Wooller besides providing a series of players for England teams. The good times continued in the 1960s when they defeated the Australians on back-to-back tours, and lifted the County Championship title again in 1969 under Tony Lewis. Further silverware came Glamorgan's way during the 1990s as they won the Sunday League in 1993 before Matthew Maynard led them to a third Championship in 1997. During the 2000s, the Welsh side lifted the one-day title again in 2002 and 2004, before embarking on a successful stadium development scheme at their headquarters which saw Test cricket come to Wales in July 2009 as Cardiff hosted the Ashes Test between England and Australia. Changing Faces - Glamorgan CCC 1888-2012 celebrates the people who have taken the Club on this remarkable journey and who have worn the Club's colours with pride and distinction. Using a series of team photographs and group images from the Club's archives - many of which have never been previously published - this is a fascinating collection that will greatly appeal to Glamorgan supporters and lovers of Welsh sport in general.

When Andrew Strauss's team seized the world title in the summer of 2011 they finally recovered what had been lost at the Adelaide Oval in 1959. This tale of England's preceding triumph and loss is recounted through the memoirs of many of the star players when England had last been top of the world. Bent Arms and Dodgy Wickets tells the story of English cricket's slow recovery from the Second World War, of its brief time of triumph and of its undignified fall from grace - a tale of fluctuating fortunes reflected upon by great names including Hutton, Compton and Trueman, Lindwall and Miller, McGlew and Weekes. The title refers to the sporting controversies of the time - suspect bowling actions and poor pitches - as Britain declined as an imperial power, and English cricket was hampered by class snobbery, anachronistic fixations and an uncompetitive domestic game.

'excellent . . . covers every aspect of wicket keeping clearly and accurately' - Callum Morin, wicketkeeper at Hadleigh Cricket Club Whether a player or a coach, this is the ultimate guide to developing the skills required to make it as a top-level wicket keeper. In the most comprehensive book on wicket keeping on the market, James Knott and Andrew O'Connor provide detailed and easy-to-understand insights into all aspects of wicket keeping, whether you are a player or coach, and no matter your level. With contributions from some of the game's great players and coaches, including Alan Knott, Jack Russell, Peter Moores and David Ripley, this invaluable guide includes over 65 training drills, a unique 'training on your own' section, and provides clear guidance for coaches who aren't wicket keepers themselves. Clear, insightful and easy to follow, this is an essential guide for improving your game or your coaching methods.