Britain's Lost Cricket Grounds Chris Arnot - Aurum
The appeal of cricket is so often not in the great stadia of the world but in the byways of the game’s history. Intrigued by the past – sometimes his own and sometimes discovered by accident; Chris Arnot leads us on a journey through the United Kingdom and looks at disused grounds large and small. Evocative photographs are married with sympathetic studies of the history of these sometimes neglected and often built on fields of glory.

A Class Act, Walter Read: The Surrey Champion Keith Booth - ACS Publications
Surrey’s scorer continues his researches into the history of the club with another portrait of a star of Victorian times. Walter Read has been unjustly forgotten by many but the author has brought him back to life, in a manner of speaking, with this well-rounded account. A cricketer with a 100% record as England Test Captain (Played 2 Won 2); a batsman who scored a triple-century that only W. G. Grace had exceeded at that time and a pioneer ‘shamateur,’ with his post as Assistant Secretary of Surrey, rendering him able to be available for the entire season. A book to complement the famous ‘Spy’ caricature by Libero Prosperi.

Cricket at the Crossroads - Class, Colour and Controversy from 1967 to 1977 Guy Fraser-Simpson
Elliott and Thompson Ltd
A new name to cricket-writing has chosen a decade of drama and controversy to open his literary innings. Starting with Brian Close’s removal as England captain and progressing through the murky waters of the D’Oliveira Affair and finally on to Kerry Packer and the realisation that cricket had changed forever, Guy Fraser-Sampson brings fresh insight to these events and examines the causes and characters that shaped the way cricket entered the turbulent new world that we recognise today.

Higgy - Matches, Microphones, and MS Alastair Hignel - Bloomsbury
When a debilitating illness strikes, it takes no heed of who the victim is. When that victim has been a county cricketer, an England Rugby Union international and a noted commentator, it seems overwhelmingly sad that an athlete should find himself laid low by multiple sclerosis. However, there is no trace of self-pity or of what might have been in this story of a life well lived and one that is yet to run its course. Alastair Hignell was a gifted sportsman and this resolute memoir shows that whatever talent he displayed on the sporting field is more than matched by his strength and determination as he battles this most insidious of diseases.

Australian Autopsy Jarrod Kimber - Pitch Publishing
A book that aims to tell the story of how an England team dissected Australia in the 2010/11 Ashes has at its heart, not just how England won but why Australia lost. This is a view from outside of the mainstream press-box but written with candour and sometimes an aching heart. Many sacred cows are skewered here and will not be popular with the men who guard the gates of Australia’s Test grounds.

Jack Hobbs, England's Greatest Cricketer Leo McKinstry - Yellow Jersey Press
Although supporters of W.G. may not agree, the sub-title of Leo McKinstry’s book sets the course for this first full-scale biography for many years. Not merely a recital of runs (and occasionally, wickets), the author delves into the life of a cricketing hero from extremely humble beginnings to a distinguished old age by the seas. A reticent man, Jack Hobbs did have his moments and his First World War service and a falling-out with Lord Hawke have been uncovered by some diligent research. What remains is the life and times of a good man but one with an impish sense of humour and a quiet dignity and determination to live his life as a professional man.

Not Out First Ball Roger Morgan-Grenville and Richard Perkins - Bikeshed Books
A story of the deeds (and misdeeds) of the redoubtable White Hunters cricket club will be familiar to anyone who has ever tried to play cricket; found that they were not very good but resolved to carry on as if talent and ability were unnecessary to play and enjoy the game. These picaresque adventures follow in the now established tradition of taking guard with tongue firmly in cheek.

Twirlymen, The Unlikely History of Cricket's Greatest Spin Bowlers Amol Rajan - Yellow Jersey
Spin bowling is the most of fragile of arts but can be the most rewarding as well as the most frustrating. Amol Rajan, a journalist and club spinner, looks to not so much explain, as shed some light on, the dark secrets of the Twirlymen of the title. En route, he makes some discoveries from the Victorian era and challenges long-held assumptions about the origin of some of cricket’s most baffling deliveries. The love of cricket and the love of the artistry of spin bowling shine through the book as the journey weaves its way to the present day and arrives at the ‘doosra.’

Last Flanelled Fool Michael Simkins - Ebury
Books from Michael Simkins have struck a chord with the cricketing public and here we find our distinguished actor hors de combat from a humourous (at least, it seems so, at a later date) household accident which gives him a summer free from his successes on the cricket field. A book full of self-deprecating anecdotes where no one can quite tie up his half-remembered face with his name forms a running joke as our hero looks for his youth in vain on the cricket fields of England but triumphantly (well – more or less), against all medical advice, he finally finds himself on a cricket field facing the might of Vic Marks and Andrew Flintoff.

The Following Game Jonathan Smith - Peridot Press
To be the father of an International cricketer is the dream of many an unfulfilled club cricketer and Jonathan Smith takes us through the highs and lows of Ed Smith’s career as the father watches the son progress from first unsure steps to final success on the field. The book was hastened by a diagnosis that would chill most but the writing remains scholarly and reflective. The author admits to every cricketing superstition that will be familiar to all cricket watchers and as father and son travel through India, the past meets the present and hopefully, the future.

The Breaks are Off, My Autobiography Graeme Swann - Hodder and Staughton
England’s breath of fresh air on the field now extends his repertoire to an account of his life and career to date. A sense of honesty comes through clearly in the book – honest in his view of others and particularly so, when talking about himself and his actions. It’s very much a case of what you see is what you get which is refreshing in this day and age and who could possibly resist a man who doesn’t believe that bonding sessions with ex-SAS personnel have any bearing on how you perform a as a cricketer and is prepared to tell the world of that fact.

Tony Greig, A Reappraisal of English Cricket's Most Controversial Captain David Tossell - Pitch Publishing
One of cricket’s most charismatic characters gets the full biography that he deserves from the pen of one of cricket’s leading biographers. Surprisingly forgotten and most known by newer cricket followers for his lively commentary and involvement in the Packer Affair, Tony Greig was a controversial player and captain whose importance has been underrated by many writers and historians. Written with the subject’s co-operation, this is a sympathetic and overdue appreciation of the man’s career and achievements.

Twentieth Century All-Rounder Clive van Ryneveld - Pretext Publishers
Another man who can truly say that he has lived a full and varied life. An educated man – Rhodes Scholar and Oxford Unversity; a great sportsman – Rugby Union for England and cricket for South Africa, rising to captain the side in the 1950’s and a man whose principles led him to the left to be finally proven right in his native country. Rather than a conventional life, the author has chosen to dip into his memory bank and bring his past to life with honest and sensible prose. It seems a lifetime away that Clive van Ryneveld and many other distinguished patriots were struggling to bring liberty and sense to a divided land but their efforts have helped his country to re enter the world on equal terms.

Arthur Milton, Last of the Double Internationals Mike Vockins - SportsBooks
We may never see another double-international, at football and cricket, so this biography of that the twelfth and probably last man to achieve the feat is both timely and yet sad. Timely, for the unfolding tale of a man blessed with natural talent at any sport he turned his hand to and sad with the subject passing away as the book was nearing completion. A story that began some sixty years ago and spanned another thirty, now seems a world away so it is fortunate that we have this sincere and gentle study of a modest but still remarkable man.

Ian Botham, The Power and the Glory Simon Wilde - Simon and Schuster
It often takes a major writer to attempt the life of a superstar and for the first time. Ian Botham has a biographer worthy of his own talents. It is not an easy story to tell and could so easily have become ‘a novel without a hero’ but the research into Botham’s early years on the Lord’s groundstaff, allied to a perceptive understanding of an insecure young man, gives fresh insight into the contradictions that make up the later character of a genuine superstar. Here, the life and career is seen as an unfolding drama rather than a mere set of statistics and matches played but allowing the reader to make their own decision on how they view a remarkable force of nature.

Cricket and Broadcasting Jack Williams - Manchester University Press
Another book that has its roots in the fields of academe looks to attempt to place the broadcasting of cricket into its wider cultural context in society. Not a traditional history with anecdotes, Jack Williams, who has written extensively on cricket for much of his life, seeks to contrast the immediacy of the game’s commentaries by using diligent research and copious footnotes with the times and politics that influenced a nation’s life as well as its sport.

Behind the Boundary, Cricket at a Crossroads Graeme Wright - A&C Black
The former Editor of Wisden went looking to explore the finances of cricket in England and Wales but on the way discovered that many other things cricketing were not as he had imagined so determined to write a very different kind of book. Graeme Wright’s skill as an interviewer meant that administrators and others were prepared to speak frankly to him, which means that the book explores some new territory and uncovers hitherto unsuspected fault lines in cricket. A challenging read that leavens bleakness with insight and offers some suggestions for solutions.

Cricket's Historians Peter Wynne-Thomas - ACS Publications
To understand history, one must know who has written the history and why. That is most definitely the case with cricket history and Peter Wynne-Thomas gives us an insight and sometimes much more, into the lives and work of cricket’s major and minor historians. The chroniclers of the game are not viewed in isolation but their connections and often the disputes, which colour their accounts, are examined in detail, giving a much fuller overall picture and offering reasons as to why views and counter views were brought about.