Boldest book on the block

The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack edited by Matthew Engel, £40
John Wisden & Co. 1,664pp

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Wisden's boldest edition yet © Wisden

Alas, there's no great Ashes triumph to gloat over (unless you're Australian) in 2007's Wisden, but what a comprehensive and entertaining story it tells. It even has a hero and a villain.

It's also a wonderfully professional and efficient enterprise. I got my review copy on March 17, yet it includes reports on every one of England's matches in their winter tour of Australia, the last game of which - a victory too (unless you're Australian) - took place on February 11. Not bad going.

All the usual records and features are there, and by now you all know who the five cricketers of the year are (unless you're Australian - unusually, there isn't one among them). This year they comprise three batsmen, one bowler and one dancer.

There are articles on all sorts of subjects - from sinking hopes (unless you're Australian - I must stop saying that) to sinking pitches - there's a splendid piece by Marcus Berkmann about heroic attempts to play the great game on sandbanks, presumably financed by the Dogger Bank.

Another fascinating article, by that great radio lady Gillian Reynolds, praises the splendid but permanently endangered institution, Test Match Special, set on an insecure sandbank created by the BBC. There's talk of it being modernised, dumbed down. I tremble. I was also particularly interested in an analysis by Kamran Abbasi of why there are so many more injuries in the modern game. I don't know what's going off out there.

And, yes, there is an obituary of the great Fred Trueman, plus a splendid tribute from Michael Parkinson. My favourite quote in the whole book comes from that. It's Fred on why he gave instructions that there was to be no memorial service for him. "When I'm gone I don't want any of these two-faced bastards who I didn't get on with standing up and saying nice things about me." Remarks like that are the reason why I live in Yorkshire.

There's nothing faint-hearted about Wisden. The editor Matthew Engel tackles whether the urn, the Elgin Marbles of cricket, should go to Australia when they win it; England's preparations and failings; whether Duncan Fletcher should survive; the modern Test match schedule; tampering with the ball; washing that Darrell right out of my Hair; the so-called Kolpak players; small boundaries; large benefits; unreadable scoreboards, and much else. His views are clear, passionate and well-argued.

Much of the book, of course, consists of facts and figures, but even facts and figures tell stories. Wisden has quite recently compiled a list of 'The Leading Cricketer in the World' for every year, except war years, between 1900 and 2006. It tells a fascinating story.

Between 1900 and 1948, all the leading cricketers were English or Australian, except for two South Africans. Since 1949, there have been 20 West Indians, three Sri Lankans, and two each from India, New Zealand and Pakistan.

The great game has spread. Let it continue, till we have Bangladeshi and Kenyan winners of that trophy. Nothing in cricket makes my blood boil more than the decision to remove Holland from our Friends Provident Trophy. What sort of idiot wants to discourage the spread of the game into continental Europe?

I stated that there was a hero and villain in this year's edition. It's time to reveal them. The hero is Shane Warne; how could it not be? Matthew Engel lists the nine grounds on which he will be playing for Hampshire this summer. "If you have grandchildren, take them. If you don't, go anyway - so you can tell them." Mike Atherton praises him as "The Mighty Craftsman".

"We will never see anything closer to perfection." And he tells how Warne was the only one of the victorious Australians to manage the moment of victory with dignity, breaking off from the celebrating pack to acknowledge the vanquished. Engel again on the Adelaide Test - be brave, read it. "Shane Warne conjured up perhaps the most astounding victory of even his career."

And the villain? Kevin Pietersen, I'm afraid. He's criticised by Engel, along with Flintoff, the fallen hero of 2005, for covering himself with tattoos and showing them off, which he thinks socially irresponsible in a man who's a role model. In that Adelaide Test, Engel quotes Pietersen's claim, after his first innings, that he had Warne beaten. Of the second innings he writes, "Pietersen swept Warne and was bowled round his legs.

Mastery, eh?" Of his fielding he states, "A wild Pietersen throw turned a last-ball three into a seven, and then for England there was only deflation." And Peter Oborne, reviewing Pietersen's "premature autobiography", states "This book is a study in narcissism, and should be avoided at all costs by people who care about the game of cricket". Ouch.

This year's Wisden should be sought out by anyone who cares about the game of cricket - except, perhaps, Kevin Pietersen.