For some years now I have been in the habit of beginning these half yearly overviews with a look at the titles I missed last time round, but which have been published in the last six months. It is a practice I have decided to drop as I am not convinced it adds a great deal, so from now on I shall not mention such titles if I have already reviewed them.
There is no doubt that 2025 was a vintage year for cricket literature, so it was never going to be likely that this year would match it, but there are nonetheless some interesting titles which, I have no doubt, will keep us entertained in the coming months.
To star with there are several titles due from Fairfield Books, as well as their regular offering of the 2026 Cricketer’s Who’s Who and the continued quarterly appearance of The Nightwatchman. Those apart the new book that the management seem most keen on is a collection of 40 poems by Ben Wyatt that capture the excitement of the 2005 Ashes series. It bears the title Ragged Splendour: My Summer on Fire. It is a book which, after recent events, England supporters who remember those heady days of two decades ago will turn to with a rheumy eye.
There are two titles due from Oliver Randall, a writer whose work I have to confess to not being familiar with, although I clearly will be by this time next year. The first, due in May, is The Literary Cricketers, sub-titled The untold story of a team that left a permanent legacy on English Culture. It concerns men like Arthur Conan Doyle, who played First Class cricket for MCC at the turn of the twentieth century. Primarily a batsman his best known cricketing achievement was however his single First Class wicket, that of WG Grace in 1900. Cricket lovers PG Wodehouse, JM Barrie, Jerome K Jerome and Evelyn Waugh will also feature.
Randall’s second book is due later in the year, but will be from a different genre. Lord’s and Maharajahs is an account of India’s first Test tour, to England in 1932. There was just a single Test, won by a Douglas Jardine led England, but not before fast bowler Mohammad Nissar had bowled both England openers on the first morning as the home side struggled to 19-3. The cloak and dagger story of the tourists captaincy will doubtless be the most interesting part of a story that was told at the time by just one writer, ‘Three Stumps’, in a slim book published in Madras that is, today, extremely difficult to find anywhere.
The best selling Fairfield title of 2026 will, in my view, be one of two, although I am sure that the third innings of Scott Oliver’s Sticky Dogs and Stardust: When the Legends Played in the Leagues will sell well. The two however are on the subject of Gloucestershire legends. One is a hero of not so long ago, Mark Alleyne, whose life story will be told by Stephen Chalke, and the other is the autobiography of a man from a generation further back, Zaheer Abbas, the release of which will coincide with the visit of the 2026 Pakistan tourists.
Nd there are two other important titles due from Fairfield. The first concerns the increasing troubling issue of state school cricket and what should be done to encourage it and ensure that recreational cricket exists for generation and that the state schools produce their share of top class cricketers. The other is a history of women’s cricket in Somerset. 2025 marked the first year that the county fielded a professional women’s cricket team. This, coming in its 150th anniversary, was a momentous occasion. However, the history of women’s cricket in the county of Somerset leading up to this point is vast, and largely undocumented. The book will seek to change that.
Moving towards the south coast Pitch have a number of books due next year. I shall start with what to me seems liklely to be the most interesting, albeit it is not actually due to the second half of the year. That is a new biography of Gubby Allen by Mark Peel. The book should be unnecessary because Allen has already been the subject of a full biography, Gubby Allen: Man of Cricket, by that eminent writer of the past EW ‘Jim’ Swanton.
The problem with Swanton’s book is that it is the worst sort of hagiography, in that it pretends to be something else. Hagiography is never a good thing, but at least if the writer acknowledges he is writing that sort of a book it is not quite so frustrating. When someone as pre-eminent as Swanton purports to write an objective account but comes nowhere near doing so then the result is a disservice to history. Allen had many flaws and I am confident that Peel’s book will, whilst acknowledging Allen’s achievements, give a full picture of the man.
Moving backwards the first Pitch book of 2026 will, I believe, be Mark Sands’ Stars on Sunday which is due at the end of March. It will certainly strike a chord with my contemporaries as it is a look back at the history of the old John Player League which, from 1969, allowed us all to watch county cricket on BBC2 every Sunday afternoon, back in the days when bowlers were limited to a 15 yard run up and a score of 200 in 40 overs was considered exceptional.
A Picture of England: Twenty Years Photographing the England Cricket Team Home and Away by Gareth Copley-Jones (the photographer) and Rory Dollard (the storyteller) will follow soon afterwards and will doubtless be a revealing portrait of the highs and lows of a period that has been something of a rollercoaster ride for followers of the England team.
And there are three more titles due from Pitch, two in June and one I know not when. The two are Women in White form Raf Nicholson, which is clearly a book about the women’s game and I hope the title aping that of the famous Wilkie Collins novel means it well delve back into the distant past. Tim Brooks’ The Englishman, on the other hand I know nothing at all about. The title suggests a biography, but Brooks’ track record does not. The third is a book from my childhood hero Frank Hayes which, I believe, is not exactly an autobiography, albeit a book something along those lines.
Max Books have three titles in the offing, one of those a limited edition of the aforementioned Frank Hayes book. The other two are another literary title, this one on William Blake and Cricket, from Malcolm Lorimer. The second is from Bob Hilton and deals with another aspect of the life of Neville Cardus, on this occasion his time as assistant cricket professional at Shrewsbury School, prior to the Great War and his subsequent life as a journalist.
Red Rose Books, whose output in recent months has been considerable, only have two titles they can confirm at this stage for 2026. The first is out later this month, and is certainly a niche publication from Stephen Musk. Cricket Back in Blighty: Taking a Break from the White Man’s Burden. The book puts in context ten cricket tours that took place between the wars and saw teams of expatriates from West Africa, so what is now Ghana and Nigeria, visit Musk’s home county and the source of a goodly propertion of his writings, Norfolk.
The second Red Rose title is also from Musk, and that one is from the other major source of his inspiration, North America. This one is a biography of a leading Philadelphian batsman. The title will be Hand in Glove; George Patterson and Philadelphia Cricket. Despite this I would however be very surprised if more books and monographs did not appear from Martin Tebay, as either publisher or author.
And we can also look forward to three more monographs from David Battersby, all on the subject of Pakistan cricket. The first will concern Pakistan’s visit to England in 1967, one that was disappointing overall for the visitors, but which did produce a memorable innings from Asif Iqbal at the Oval. Later in the year there will also be another monograph on England’s visit to Pakistan ten years later, and in between the two an appreciation of the eldest of the Mohammad brothers, Wazir, who passed away in October last year at the grand old age of 95.
Steve Smith, whose output in 2025 has been prodigious, intends to carry on with his program of publishing accounts of the tours made to Philadelphia during Victorian and Edwardian times. He also has the three somewhat better known tours of England by the Philadelphians to cover so we can expect regular offerings from him. In addition he is also contemplating a book on the subject of SF Barnes, and his cricketing achievements (of which there were many) after his fiftieth birthday.
The first half of 2026 will not be the busiest in terms of publishing for the ACS, but in addition to their usual statistical volumes; The First-Class Counties Second XI Annual 2026; the ACS International Cricket Yearbook 2026; and, as an online publication after last year’s hard copy experiment, ACS Women’s Yearbook 2026, all of which should be out before the new English season starts, they do have a couple more books due.
The first one is another book in the Lives in Cricket series, and comes with a copper bottomed guarantee of being excellent because the author is Max Bonnell. For those unfamiliar with the subject, Jack Walsh, he was a late starter and did not play serious competitive cricket until he was 20. He was 27 when he first played for New South Wales, and 33 when he signed his first professional contract with Leicestershire. Wartime robbed him of what should have been six prime years of his career, and yet he still captured 1,190 wickets in first-class cricket and won a reputation as one of the most entertaining players in the county game.
The other ACS book appears in their Cricket Witness series. 2026 is the centenary of the formation of the South Wales Hunts CC, Wales’ most famous and prestigious wandering cricket club. This book starts by looking at the very close links between hunting and cricket in South Wales as well as the leading figures in the creation of the nomadic club in 1926. Attention is then paid to the many characters who have represented the Club, the well-known families who have supported the team both on and off the field, as well as the many grounds where the Hunts have played.
The New Year will also see the series of monographs from the Museum of Welsh Cricket continue. We have just seen the appearance of Don Bradman and Glamorgan, the fifth in the series, and there will be a number appearing in 2026. These will include First Class at Fifteen, looking at the life of Roy Gabe-Jones who made his debut for the county at that age in 1922, Daffodils and Bluebirds, the story of industrialist Sir Herbert Merrett who became Chairman of Cardiff City FC as well as President of Glamorgan, and a look at BBC coverage of Glamorgan cricket including how it came to be that we have that priceless footage of Garry Sobers’s six sixes from a Malcolm Nash over at Swansea in 1968.
Moving to the other side of the world I dare say there may be something forthcoming on the as yet not quite finished 2025/26 Ashes series. In England the series will probably be referred to as almost a debacle – I suspect Australian writers might be even harsher.
But enough of such mainstream subjects. What can we look forward to from the Cricket Publishing Company? Their schedules tend to be, like Denis Compton’s calling, best described as a basis for negotiation, but if Ronald Cardwell can get all his ducks in a row there is much to look forward to.
First to appear will be from the Cricketers in Print series, in January. Rex Sellers – Resilience and Perseverance is from the pen of Michael Sexton. Now in his eighties Sellers is a once capped leg spinner. Born in India there are some interesting insights into the ‘White Australia’ policies of his time, and how Robert Menzies managed to get Sellers a passport inside 24 hours.
The same series will also be extended in February when Trevor Chappell: The Teacher’s Journey – A Life Devoted to Cricket’s Greater Purpose by Paul Stephenson appears in the same series. Anything on the life of the younger Chappell brother is to be welcomed the more so because this one promises to reveal insights into ‘the underarm incident’ that have not hitherto been revealed.
Also due in February is a biography from the pen of Cardwell himself, Arthur Watson – The Boy from Inverell by Ronald Cardwell. A more than useful cricketer in his youth Watson, now aged 85, has since umpired more than 850 Sydney Grade matches.
By March we should have Cardwell’s biography of Frank Ward, In Search of Frank Ward. Eleven wickets at more than fifty runs each in his four Tests does not suggest the South Australian leg spinner of the late 1930s is the most interesting subject for a cricketing biography, but my understanding is that it is the other aspects of his life that are the real interest in the story.
Also due in March we will have a book on a subject that, to the best of my knowledge, has escaped the attention of writers in the past. Runs on the Board – Every Scoreboard Tells a Story by Stephen Walters is a book about scoreboards around the world, rather than the matches that they faithfully illustrate the progress of.
Moving on to April we will have one for the memorabilia collectors amongst us, David Jenkins’ The Trials and Tribulations of an Autograph Collector. I am sure I will recognise at least some of the problems that Jenkins has encountered down the years.
In addition to those there will certainly be a history of cricket at Sydney Grammar by James Cattlin, to mark 175 years of the game there. Beyond that Cricket Essays by Mike Coward is planned as well as some interesting biographies. Ronald is working alone on Alan Fairfax and Arthur Chipperfield, on Paul Sheahan with Pat Rodgers and, the one I have been looking forward to for many moons, with James Cattlin on Jim Burke.
Elsewhere in Australia Peter Lloyd and Pat Rodgers have a new book appearing, hopefully in March. It is, no doubt inspired by Lloyd’s superb biography of Charles Macartney, an account of the tour of New Zealand by New South Wales in 1923/24. The events of the tour demonstrate why the full strength of Australia was not unleashed on their neighbours for so many years. Three of the twelve games were drawn, but in two of those the New South Welshmen were on the brink of huge victories to go with the nine hammerings they did dish out. Only in the first match against Wellington did the hosts comfortably draw a match, but even then the hosts were never on top in the game.
James Merchant has contributed some excellent privately published limited editions in recent years on a variety of subjects. One more should see the light of day in the not too distant future. The title has yet to be finalised, but it will be about the Murray Challenge Cup, a competition that took place in Western Victoria between 1875 and 1882. It sounds like an obscure one and, in some ways, by definition it is, but the competition was a showcase for the talents of the legendary aboriginal all-rounder Johnny Mullagh, and featured a number of other decent cricketers as well.
A couple of more mainstream titles from Australia are Ten Out by Ian Brayshaw and The Ashes by Mark Browning. Brayshaw’s book looks at the bowlers from cricket history who have taken all ten wickets, so in that it covers the same subject matter as a book from the ACS a few years ago. The Browning book, based on the title alone, could mean many things, but the sub title ties it down; A Front Row Seat to an Iconic Era of Test Cricket in the 1960s, a time when it would never have occurred to anyone that a two day Test match could take place.
And that is about it from Australia, although I believe that a biography of Clarence ‘Nip’ Pellew is almost ready. Pellew played ten times for Australia in 1920 and 1921, eight of which were won by handsome margins and the other two drawn. In other news there is still no release date that I am aware of for a biography of Percy McDonnell, a book on the twin tours of 1887/88 and one on that of 1928/29, but I still believe all three will see the light of day. Another for the more distant future is a biography of Bill Johnston from Ken Piesse.
Those interested in Scottish cricket will have noticed that nothing more has been forthcoming in Richard Miller’s Scottish Cricket Memories series despite what I referenced here for July 2024. Having admitted to spending too much of his time assisting other people with their projects Richard has promised me that normal service will now resume, so I will repeat myself; ‘Number 21 is going to be The First Scottish Cricket Union 1879 – 1883 by Neil Leitch, Number 22 is The Cricket Grounds of Dundee (Part 1) 1830 – 1890 by Richard himself and Number 23 is likely to be The Story of a Cricket Picture – Craigmount 1870, again by Richard himself. Others including Arbroath United CC – A History, Early Cricket in Dunfermline and some player profile series are also in the course of preparation.’
And finally we are promised a new history of the game, Full Circle: A History of Cricket, a title due in April. I have made the observation before that, within a single volume, that now seems to be an impossible task, but I have been proved wrong before and, this one written by Peter Oborne and Richard Heller, I suspect I may be again. Even bearing in mind that publisher’s blurbs should always be treated with caution, this one certainly raises expectations;
In its earliest forms in the 18th century, cricket was a commercial entertainment, a vehicle for gambling alongside cock-fighting or wrestling. In the Victorian era, the sport was rejuvenated as a means of keeping order in England’s public schools and increasingly became linked with ideas of virtue and manliness. Exported by empire loyalists abroad, cricket took root across the globe – wildly successfully in some countries, indelibly linked with racism and violence in others, and failing to thrive in certain regions. At all times, the authors argue, cricket either evolves or dies. Today, the monetisation of cricket suggests it has returned to its original purpose – less a sport or self-mythologising value system than a commercial enterprise to be ruthlessly exploited.
