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(⬇️ Click these links – or read on for my own shortlist with lots of inspiration!)
Club Cricket Books
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👀 6 of the Best – John’s Reading List (books I’ve read myself and enjoyed)
Getting Out is the story of how Ukraine’s cricketers helped the people around them to escape from Russia’s invasion in 2022, including first-hand accounts of the war.
Cricket in Ukraine had a surprising and eccentric history. But when the bombings started, these cricketers found themselves in a fight for their lives as they rushed to the front lines to defend their country.
Meanwhile, some Ukrainian refugees had an altogether different battle as they began to play cricket in a park in southern Europe, and fought to keep their country’s cricketing heritage alive.
As well as eyewitness accounts of the first days of the war, the book holds many light-hearted stories – from the team where no one wanted to bat or bowl, to the biofuel developer who became Ukraine’s first professional cricketer.
It’s a story of courage, determination and hope, both on and off the field.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: I approached this with a bit of trepidation, given the context of a country being invaded, and while that isn’t avoided, this is primarily a tale of hope, grassroots endeavour and the shining potential of cricket in Ukraine.
Of Battenberg, Bombay and Blag is a blood, sweat and beers switch hit across the decades with first-hand accounts and opinion pieces on club cricket, Test matches, the Hundred and IPL.
With a decade of club cricket under his belt, Vic Mills heads to Australia in search of adventure only to suffer a severe bout of sledging, but he is one of the few to witness World Series Cricket.
With Bodyline almost forgotten, he turns out for the Bar & Bench of Melbourne, the Gentlemen of Ballarat and (his only cap) an Australian Embassy XI in Manila.
Chaos ensues in the 1980s as he blags his way into Test grounds around Australia with a building industry union card doubling as a press pass. In the 1990s, Vic becomes a reluctant reporter, accredited to cricket’s press corps courtesy of the Times of India and Jakarta Post.
Fast forward to 2009 and Vic is the driving force behind Project Front Foot, a decade-long venture to create a cricket academy for the children of South Asia’s largest slum. Today, the project supports refugee cricketers in Europe.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: I came to this book because I heard about Project Front Foot; a kit recycling scheme that has had success around the world.
Vic writes colourfully and it’s a very easy read. The tales rattle along and I was most interested in the way Project Front Foot began, grew and has developed since; an extraordinary effort.
The golden age of this type of story has now passed. The reasons are obvious. Chief among them is the earning power of top players, both from central contracts and on the franchise Twenty20 circuit, as well as the fact that international and franchise schedules increasingly impinge upon the UK summer.
These stories are not entirely obsolete, however, although they will most often involve players taking their first steps on the road to superstardom, future stars before they became household names. Then there are players in the twilight of their careers, if not former stars then certainly with their highest peaks behind them.
And between the springtime baby steps and the autumnal last knockings, there are a clutch of chapters involving cricketers in their high-summer pomp, living legends treading the league cricket boards. These magical stories are unique to cricket. And yet no one has collected them in one place. Until now.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: Sticky Dogs and Stardust: When the Legends Played in the Leagues is a beautiful fusion between club cricket and the stars who light it up. Scott’s skill as a Wisden writer shines through as does his research.
From a teen Adam Gilchrist scoring vast amount of runs for Richmond Cricket Club to Gordon Greenidge and Malcolm Marshall at Leyland, each chapter is a gem. Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Curtley Ambrose and many others also feature.
The Batmaker of Copenhagen is the inspiring story of a cricketing hero who defied the German occupation to keep cricket alive throughout the Nazi occupation of Denmark during the Second World War.
With Copenhagen under the iron grip of the Gestapo, and German U-boats preventing any supplies coming in from England, a humble cricket scorer sets out on an improbable and dangerous quest to find willow and produce his own cricket bats.
Scouring the length and breadth of the country, hounded by Gestapo spies, and risking everything for the game he loves, the ‘Batmaker’ undertakes his mission under the very noses of the city’s oppressors.
His nemesis, a Gestapo chief by the name of ‘Lucifer’, begins a quest of his own to crush the resistance in a battle of wills that shapes the course of the war.
Based on a true story, this uplifting tale of passion and patriotism brings cricket and espionage together in a unique and gripping thriller.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: I’ll be honest and admit I thought this was going to be a factual account of Danish cricket, its origins maybe.
It’s actually an espionage thriller; well-paced fiction with rounded, believable characters based on a true story. Such a good read; my favourite book of the year.
Across six of the seven continents on which cricket is played, there are some remarkable cricket grounds.
From a tidal strip of sand outside the Ship Inn at Elie, in Fife, to the monumental Melbourne Cricket Ground with its 100,000 capacity, this book features the extraordinary places and venues in which cricket is played.
Many grounds have remarkably beautiful settings. There is the rugged Devonian charm of Lynton and Lynmouth Cricket Club set in the Valley of the Rocks, not far from the North Devon coast. Then there is the vividly-coloured, almost Lego-like structure of Dharamshala pavilion in Northern India where local resident the Dalai Lama has watched a match.
Country houses such as Audley End and Blenheim Palace form the backdrop to many cricket pitches, or castles, such as Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, or even Portchester Castle, where there is a cricket ground inside the castle walls.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: This stunning hardback coffee table is a permanent fixture at CYHQ and I flick through its pages whenever I want to transport myself around the world.
The photography is evocative and it will make you want to visit more cricket grounds. Guaranteed. Very giftable to others – or yourself!
An England cricket tour is a phenomenon with few parallels. England’s Test, one-day and Twenty20 sides are typically overseas for around 150 days a year, playing anywhere from Barbados to Brisbane, Cape Town to Colombo.
Since 1877, they have fulfilled more than 1,000 fixtures away from home.
In this definitive history, Simon Wilde explores England’s tours from every angle. He celebrates the great team performances and individual feats – from James Lillywhite to Ben Stokes, every captain has aspired to venture abroad and return a hero – but also tells of adventure and misadventure, mishaps and scandal.
***
🗣️ JF Verdict: There is a reason this book won a load of prestigious cricket awards. It is a fascinating deep-dive into life on tour; the bonds, the grind, the mental anguish and the euphoria.
Simon Wilde writes with the kind of authority that comes with having reported on five World Cups and more than 250 England Test matches as the cricket correspondent of The Sunday Times.
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