Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 85 i Wisden Cricket Monthly

The numbers are astronomical, unnervingly so, and stirring endorsements of the game’s essential value and grandeur. If it passed you by, or it spins your head out, or leaves you feeling strangely untethered from the thing you love, then let’s talk about the scale of what has just taken place. At a swoop, the injection of some £400m into the coffers, via percentage sales of the eight Hundred franchises, shifts the plates forever. An assortment of lavishly bejewelled hyperinvestors from India and America have found some cash down the back of their portfolios and, for reasons not unrelated to vanity, decided to scatter it on a game in no position to refuse it. It amounts to the single most significant month in English cricket since that time back in 2003…

ANDREW MILLER Wisden Cricket Monthly columnist, UK editor of ESPNcricinfo and former editor of The Cricketer Name your favourite passage of play from any televised cricket match in 2025 so far. Perhaps it was Jasprit Bumrah’s dismissal of Usman Khawaja with the last ball of the day in Sydney, or one of Abhishek Sharma’s languid launches for six over extra-cover in Mumbai. For me, it’s a toss-up between the guy who toppled into the safety netting while clinging onto a one-handed crowd catch at the Wanderers, and the guy whose trousers fell off during the SA20 final as he threw himself over a balcony (and into the lap of another unsuspecting fan) while failing to reach a similarly huge strike from Connor Esterhuizen. Forget the actual action. Throughout a bleak…

LAWRENCE BOOTH Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editor and Daily Mail cricket correspondent It was during the Rawalpindi Test of December 2022, when Bazball was all the rage and the red ball seemed more compelling than the white, that ECB chairman Richard Thompson insisted The Hundred should not sell itself short. As journalists trooped back to the press box to carry on with the serious business of watching a Test match, the question of who might pay what for a two-year-old competition fighting for credibility seemed a bit theoretical. An offer had arrived from Bridgepoint Group, a private investment company, for around £350m – to buy 75 per cent of the competition and auction every team. The significance of the decision to reject it would become clear only with time. As Thompson…

MEL FARRELL Australian writer and broadcaster “One thing I would have loved is to be seen as just another cricket player, just a young guy who simply had a passion for the game Temba Bavuma and I have been talking for nearly an hour. We’re just wrapping up when he stops me, in his quiet yet authoritative way. He wants to make something very clear. “I sometimes get the sense when people speak about my journey, about the challenges and pressures I have to deal with, it can be a bit sombre,” he says gently. “I’m quite grateful for everything that I’ve gone through, you know? And that aspect, for me, is an important one, that gratitude for the journey. I wouldn’t want people to think I’m dropping my lip…

An alternative prize will be provided if the winner is aged under 18, or if requested *Only available to UK residents ★ LETTER OF THE MONTH Pro Cricketer’s Winter (PCW) A poem inspired by Lawrence Booth’s mention of “the acronym-laden world of cricket” in WCM84: Season’s end at the CCC Issued a NOC by the ECB IPL auction, could-be MVP Watched the BGT on TNT Rain first game back, DLS mess Out LBW on DRS NRR exit at the ICC Trophy Spoke to TMS (having learned from Sophie) ODI comp done, back to T20 Made IPL runs, SR of plenty PSL off limits, no NOC on its way Time for conversation with the PCA New WTC cycle, potential gem Dutifully covered in WCM Will Buggey You can’t be a tourist…

Brydon Carse had a horrible sinking feeling. Made aware that the Cricket Regulator, the ECB’s independent disciplinary arm, were investigating his historical breaches of betting rules, he could only sit and wait for the outcome. But he knew he was in trouble. The investigation would ultimately reveal that between 2017 and 2019 Carse had placed 303 bets on cricket matches. None of the games involved Carse himself, and there was no suggestion of skulduggery, but it was nonetheless a clear – and fairly prolific – violation of integrity rules which prohibit professional cricketers from betting on the sport anywhere in the world. On May 31 last year, it was announced that Carse had been banned for 16 months, with 13 suspended for two years, meaning he could only resume his…

No.10 Scorecards Most of us do not collect scorecards but we will have kept some from matches we have seen. There are many people who collect them seriously. Some collect cards for their own county, and I know one collector with 3,000 Sussex scorecards. Others go for fully printed Test match scorecards, produced and sold at the end of the match, some of which are printed on silk. Others prefer those where something out of the ordinary happened – a score of 300-plus or a 10-wicket haul for example. One of the ones most sought after is the card for the highest opening stand of 555, by Holmes and Sutcliffe for Yorkshire against Essex in 1932. Signed copies fetch a lot, and I still regret selling one cheaply 15 years…

NATHAN JOHNS Freelance Irish sportswriter This was the defining image of Ireland’s recent Test victory over Zimbabwe. Matthew Humphreys, fresh from spinning his side to a final-day win, sat in a jubilant Irish changing room. The background offered a window into a cricketer’s cluttered life during a Test week; whites, spikes and bottles of celebratory libations. His smile framed by cricket’s cool-again moustachioed look, Humphreys is pictured holding Ireland’s makeshift honours board. A far cry from the equivalent at Lord’s, this piece of polystyrene is a portable reminder of Ireland’s Test exploits. Chris Siddell, Ireland’s team manager, has charted every Irish century and five-for, taking the board from Malahide to Galle, Lord’s to Mirpur, Abu Dhabi to Bulawayo. Kevin O’Brien’s ton in the country’s first Test in 2018 tops the…

“There needs to be buy-in from every team to be transparent about their use of any rules. And yes, we’re looking at India here, who have twice used loopholes to their advantage BEN GARDNER KATYA WITNEY Wisden staff writer The latest storm emanates from a newish rule that is scarcely used – much less dramatically affecting a game’s outcome. Nonetheless, it’s hard to look at the basic facts of the most recent example and argue that it’s fit for purpose. What is inherently a good thing, not incentivising players to carry on through dangerous concussions or allowing an environment where they could be pressured to, has been twisted by ‘marginal gains’ (or not quite so marginal) as the rule allows. Common sense mandates an independent doctor must be present who…

SAM DALLING Freelance sportswriter “I love the challenge of competitive sport,” says a grinning Adam Hollioake. “I just can’t imagine my life without it.” His background as an England cricketer, decorated Surrey captain, professional boxer and Mixed Martial Arts fighter proves as much, and his next assignment can certainly be lumped into the ‘challenge’ category. Having wintered with England Lions, Hollioake is soon to join up with Kent, having signed a three-year deal to become the club’s new head coach. While he’s relishing the opportunity, he admits he didn’t foresee a return to county cricket - or any cricket at all - when he retired from playing two decades ago. “When I left cricket in 2004, obviously it wasn’t long after my brother died,” Hollioake tells WCM. “I honestly thought…

“My happiest days in cricket,” says David Batty, the Bradford League’s (BCL) all-time leading wicket-taker, “were when my two lads made their Yorkshire debuts.” The eldest, Jeremy, played 64 first-class games for the White Rose and the youngest, Gareth, just one in a career that brought him nine Test caps. Both had started out as leggies, like Dad, who converted them to off-spin when he heard the Headingley brass ‘Weren’t interested in leg-spinners”. Batty Snr’s cricketing journey started in the Bradford Mutual Sunday Schools competition then on to Jer Lane in the Bradford Central, where he was “a quick bowler whose first love was Fred Trueman. I thought I was good, but soon found I wasn’t” and so switched to leggies when he moved into the BCL with Lidget Green…

Founded in 1951, Wombwell Cricket Lovers’ Society is amongst the oldest cricket societies in the UK. Boasting approximately 275 members from across Yorkshire and beyond, it typically hosts nine or 10 speaker events every year. While most take place at Shaw Lane Sports Club in Barnsley, Zoom meetings are also held to increase the number and breadth of speakers. There is also an annual Christmas lunch, open to non-members, which features a big-name speaker from the world of cricket. This winter Wombwell has hosted a range of players, coaches and journalists including Jack Brooks, Paul Farbrace, Phil Neale, Kevin Howells, Pat Murphy and Graham Hardcastle as well as hosting a special Memorabilia & Nostalgia evening, with two further speaker events to come in March. Wombwell’s final event of the season,…

KATYA WITNEY Wisden staff writer ● @KatyaWitney The cracks in England’s foundations were clear to see almost from ball one, but it was only once the final brick was torn down in Melbourne, following a humiliating innings defeat in the Test match, that the scale of the defeat could be seen. On the eve of the opening match of the series in Sydney, Heather Knight had spoken bullishly about Australian scars from 2023, when England fought back to square the series. Three weeks later, she stood on the outfield at the MCG being asked whether her leadership could survive a worst-ever Ashes defeat. Now, with the future personnel of the side uncertain and a full-scale review launched, England have to ask themselves: what went so badly wrong? Most obviously it…

ISSUE 85 The T20 circuit can be a soulless place, and so when a heart-warming tale turns up, one that shows the love of cricket still runs deep even for the most hardened gun-for-hire, it’s all the more welcome. Former Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka seemed to have provided one such good-news story, responding to an SOS call from his domestic first-class side, the relegation-threatened SSC. Taking a brief break from the ILT20, he smashed a century on the morning of the final day of SSC’s clash against Moors, caught the four-and-a-half hour flight back to UAE and then blitzed 30-odd for Dubai Capitals that same evening. Maybe you really can have it all. It then emerged that his early departure from Sri Lanka was unsanctioned, and that he was…

Warwickshire The Bears have sprung a surprise by parting company with head coach Mark Robinson following a restructuring of their backroom staff. Robinson, who was appointed to the role in 2021 and led Warwickshire to the Championship title in his first season, has been replaced by Ian Westwood, the former club captain. “Considering recent performances and feedback from the review, we felt it was time for change,” said Stuart Cain, the club’s chief executive. “Ian Westwood is a Bear through-and-through. He understands our history, culture, and DNA.” Westwood will be able to call upon the services of Australian all-rounder Beau Webster – who will be at Edgbaston from the beginning of May until the end of July and available for the Championship and Blast – and Sri Lankan pace bowler…

100 AEJ COLLINS 628* Clarke’s House v North Town House Clifton College, Clifton June 1899 On November 11, 1914, Arthur Edward Jeune Collins became one of the early casualties of the Great War. He had never played cricket at first-class level, and yet, in his own way, he was one of the most famous cricketers of the time, having set a record which would last for 116 years. As a 13-year-old, Collins had made the highest score by anyone in any form of cricket - an innings which brought him nationwide attention. By all accounts the bowling wasn’t up to much, but the teenager’s achievement was all the more remarkable when you consider that boundaries on three sides of the ground counted for just two runs, while the fourth had no…

The winner of this month’s quiz will receive a copy of Scott Oliver’s Sticky Dogs And Stardust - The Second Innings, the sequel to the 2024 Wisden Book of the Year which is available to pre-order at thenightwatchman.net. Send in your answers via email (editorial@wisden.com). Entries must be received by March 24, 2025 WIN! 1. 5 years ago… On February 24, 2020, New Zealand defeated India by 10 wickets in the first Test at Wellington. Which debutant took first-innings figures of 4-39 and was named Player of the Match when the Black Caps won the inaugural World Test Championship final against the same opposition in 2021? 2. 10 years ago… On February 14, 2015, Australia thrashed England by 111 runs at the MCG in the second match of the Men’s…

In association with 11. BEYOND A BOUNDARY BY CLR JAMES (1963) When Vic Marks chose his favourite 10 cricket books for The Guardian, he included Beyond a Boundary as the last entry: “Well, we should all read this at some time or another.” The statistician Derek Lodge, conducting a similar exercise, confessed “I find I don’t return to it often”. The book’s reputation can be intimidating: in the 1964 Wisden, John Arlott immediately hailed it as the “finest” written about cricket and probably the best “about any sport”. It defies categorisation: part history, part memoir, part sketch of cricketing character and technique, part sociological fieldwork, part aesthetic treatise, part polemical tract. It makes demands of its reader: like the late Beethoven quartets James admired, the book is loosely structured in…