Cricket Society Latest News and Announcements

The Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year Award 2024

The shortlist for this year's award has been announced today (1st March, 2024).

The competition, run by the Cricket Society since 1970 and in partnership with MCC since 2009, is for books nominated by MCC and Cricket Society Members, and is highly regarded by writers and publishers.

Books about Bazball and England’s white ball cricket revolution are included on the shortlist. So too is a biography of Frank Worrell, and, for the first time, a cricketing play – by Shomit Dutta – is chosen. A history of England’s tours and a look at international stars playing league cricket complete the list.

All six books and authors will be celebrated, and the winner announced, at the annual awards evening at Lord’s on Tuesday 9 April.

At the event, the Stephen Fay Award 2024 will also be made, posthumously, to Tony Cozier for his services to cricket and accepted on his behalf by Clive Lloyd.

"JUDGING, LIKE CRICKET, IS A GAME OF FINE LINES"

Chair of judges Robert Winder said: “I know everyone always says this, but it really was a competitive year. The judges were painstaking, but sadly it was inevitable that a lot of good books would miss out. Judging, like cricket, is a game of fine lines.”

The 2023 winner was An Island’s Eleven, The Story of Sri Lankan Cricket by Nicholas Brookes.

The six books on the 2024 shortlist are:

  • Son of Grace, Frank Worrell A Biography, Vaneisa Baksh, Fairfield Books
  • Bazball, The Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution, Lawrence Booth and Nick Hoult, Bloomsbury
  • Stumped, Shomit Dutta, Concord Theatricals
  • Sticky Dogs and Stardust, When the Legends Played in the Leagues, Scott Oliver, Fairfield Books
  • White Hot, The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions, Tim Wigmore and Matt Roller, Bloomsbury
  • The Tour: The Story of the England Cricket Team Overseas 1877-2022, Simon Wilde, Simon and Schuster

Other books considered for the shortlist included:

  • How to be a Cricket Fan: A Life in 50 Artefacts from WG to Wisden, Matthew Appleby, Pitch
  • Disappearing World, Our 18 First-Class Cricket Counties, Scyld Berry, Pitch
  • Turning Over the Pebbles, Mike Brearley, Constable
  • Broadly Speaking, Stuart Broad, Hodder and Stoughton
  • Legacy, My Autobiography, Nick Compton, Allen and Unwin
  • From Darkness into Light, John Broom and Anthony Condon, Pitch
  • Footprints, David Foot’s Lifetime of Writing, Stephen Chalke, Charlcombe Books/ Fairfield Books
  • Balls to Fly, Ricky Ellcock, An Autobiography, Fairfield Books
  • Cambridge Sport in Fenner’s Hands, Nigel Fenner, self-published by Cambridge Sports ToursAshes 2023, A Cricket Classic, Gideon Haigh, Scribe Publications
  • All-India and Down Under, Peace, Partition and the Game of Cricket, Richard Knott, Pitch
  • No Picnic, The Historic First MCC Tour of India and Ceylon 1926-27, Jeremy Lonsdale, ACS Publications
  • Gilly: The Turbulent Life of Roy Gilchrist, Mark Peel, Pitch
  • Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, Mark Peel, Pitch
  • David Warner, Daring to be Different, Ken Piesse, Wilkinson Publishing
  • The Last Corinthian, The Cricketing Life of MJK Smith, Mike Thompson, Pitch
  • One Day at a Time, The History of Limited Overs Cricket in 25 Matches, David Tossell, Fairfield Books

New YouTube interview with Christopher Sandford

Head over to our YouTube channel to see Nigel Hancock interview Christopher Sandiford about his latest book, 'Laker and Lock' on the great spin duo of the 1950s. There are many other events on the channel, including interviews with David Lloyd and Ted Dexter.

New Exhibition at Lord's: No Foreign field

Society Secretary Geoff Levett recently attended a preview of MCC's latest exhibitionon the history of global cricket, No Foreign Field, with curator Dr Prashant Kidambi and MCC Chief Librarian Neil Robinson. The exhibition will run for the rest of the year, together with exhibitions of portraits of black cricketers and cricket in the Jewish community at the Museum at Lord's. Click through for a sneak preview of his review for the Society's Bulletin.

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All paintings and Illustrations featured are reproduced by kind permission of Christina Pierce - Cricket Artist. www.christinapierce.com
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