Top 45

Dec 6, 2008: How to distil over a century of cricket literature into half a bookshelf's worth? A recap of our series on recommended cricket literature

The Fast Men

Speed read

Nov 29, 2008: Frith's history of fast bowling is encyclopaedic, but also fittingly brisk and concise

Sir Donald Bradman: A Biography

The first word

Nov 24, 2008: Rosenwater's books lacks Bradman's input - maybe that's why it's the best of the biographies of the great man

Boycs

The paradox of Sir Geoffrey

Nov 15, 2008: Leo McKinstry provides a balanced, nuanced view of one of cricket's most complex characters

Anyone but England

The old order yieldeth

Nov 8, 2008: Marqusee places cricket's evolution in a historical perspective and reveals the inevitability of the changes the sport has gone through in recent times

Autobiography

Flawless and felicitous

Nov 1, 2008: Cardus may not have been the best cricket writer ever, but his autobiography certainly is the best-written cricket book of them all

Cricket Beyond the Bazaar

Embracing the East

Oct 25, 2008: Coward's book played a significant part in demystifying the subcontinent for Australian cricketers and cricket watchers

Mystery Spinner

Uncovered

Oct 18, 2008: Gideon Haigh's biography of Iverson painstakingly unearths the story of a talented misfit

Beyond Bat and Ball

Player pages

Oct 11, 2008: Reading David Foot's warm, conversational profiles of cricketers is like sharing in the camaraderie of a dressing room

The Development of West Indies Cricket

Caribbean context

Oct 4, 2008: A perceptive, prescient look at West Indies cricket and its decline

The Willow Wand

The anti-romantic movement

Sep 27, 2008: In an attempt to separate cricket reality from myth, Derek Birley ruthlessly questions, if not busts outright, many of the game's idyllic beliefs

46 Not Out

Torrential eloquence, concealed sadness

Sep 20, 2008: In his writing Robertson-Glasgow always toiled for the right word and the arresting simile, evoking a world of grace and ease

Can't Bat, Can't Bowl, Can't Field

Fun and games

Sep 13, 2008: Unlike far too many cricket writers, Johnson refuses to take the game too seriously - and thank goodness for that

Australia 55

Big pictures, artfully painted

Sep 6, 2008: Alan Ross is often classed as a cricket belletrist - with good reason. And this book is among his finest works

Wodehouse at the Wicket

Plum postings

Aug 30, 2008: Wodehouse didn't write too much on the game, but what there is is an unalloyed delight

War Minus the Shooting

Cricket minus the cliches

Aug 23, 2008: In this narrative of the 1996 World Cup, context means more than the final wicket

John Arlott: A Memoir

In the name of the father

Aug 16, 2008: Arlott wasn't perfect and this book, by his son, readily admits so

Australian Summer

Local colour

Aug 9, 2008: Cardus' account of the 1936-37 Ashes tour gives rein to his desire to write about more than just the cricket

Cricket: A History of Its Growth and Development Throughout the World

The whole story

Aug 2, 2008: An admirable attempt to "tell the full history of the game"

WG Grace: A Life

The good doctor in full

Jul 26, 2008: Serious scholarship and unflagging zest make this biography one of cricket's best life stories

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