Cricket is defined by the characters who have played
it, watched it, reported it, ruled upon it, ruined it and
rejoiced in it.
Humorous and deeply affectionate,
Cricketing
Lives
tells the story of the world’s greatest and most
incomprehensible game through those who have shaped
it, from the rustic contests of eighteenth-century England
to the spectacle of the Indian Premier League. It’s about
W. G. Grace and his eye to his wallet; the invincible Viv
Richards; and Sarah Taylor, ‘the best wicketkeeper in the
world...male or female’. Paying homage, too, to the game’s
great writers, Richard H. Thomas steers a course through
the despair of war, tactical controversies and internecine
politics, to reveal how cricket has always stormed back to
warm our hearts as nothing else can.