Spinner's review

C&G Cricket Year edited by Jonathan Agnew (A&C Black, hb, 319pp, £24.99)

Autumn brings many things: vibrant colours; falling leaves; conkers. All these are "traditional autumn delights". C&G Cricket Year is not among them, to judge by the 2006 edition, despite what Ian Whittaker, head of marketing at Cheltenham & Gloucester, asserts.

Whittaker is afforded a generous two pages to express his opinions on the game. This annual compendium has always been a sponsored publication and a corporate message from the benefactor is a depressing trend as well as a dull introduction.

Things could only get better after that and the depth and breadth of the coverage are impressive, chronicling every Championship match of the summer, plus C&G Trophy, Pro40 League and Twenty20 Cup, and every England international of the year. Potted scorelines and a generous sprinkling of photographs relieve the density.

Aside from writing all the Test reports Jonathan Agnew, the editor, profiles Monty Panesar, the fourth recipient of the C&G Man of the Year Award. Disappointingly Agnew's profile offers little that is not already known, wasting too many words lamenting his fielding and justifying his selection. As this is a special 25th anniversary edition, the contributors look back at the last quarter-century of each county - and country. Although each review is short, there is enough to gain a reasonable idea of the sides' fortunes in that period.

However, the overwhelming sense is of a book so keen to please everyone that it may fall short of thrilling anyone. And critically, unlike the unmatched grandfather of annuals, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, it lacks authority.

At best it may be an enjoyable book to flick through or dip into - one to trigger memories of the summer's games and fill in the details that scorecards cannot manage alone. To that extent, it may just be a delight.