The Cricket Society and MCC Book of the Year Award 2024

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Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a historic cricket club founded in 1787, based at Lord's Cricket Ground in London since 1814.

Photo Credit: Marylebone Cricket Club

THE SHORTLIST FOR THE CRICKET SOCIETY AND MCC BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024 HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED TODAY.

The competition, run by the Cricket Society since 1970 and in partnership with MCC since 2009, is for books nominated by MCC and Cricket Society Members, and is highly regarded by writers and publishers.

Books about Bazball and England’s white ball cricket revolution are included on the shortlist. So too is a biography of Frank Worrell, and, for the first time, a cricketing play – by Shomit Dutta – is chosen. A history of England’s tours and a look at international stars playing league cricket complete the list.

All six books and authors will be celebrated, and the winner announced, at the annual awards evening at Lord’s on Tuesday 9 April.

At the event, the Stephen Fay Award 2024 will also be made, posthumously, to Tony Cozier for his services to cricket and accepted on his behalf by Clive Lloyd.

“JUDGING, LIKE CRICKET, IS A GAME OF FINE LINES”

Chair of judges Robert Winder said: “I know everyone always says this, but it really was a competitive year. The judges were painstaking, but sadly it was inevitable that a lot of good books would miss out. Judging, like cricket, is a game of fine lines.”

The 2023 winner was An Island’s Eleven, The Story of Sri Lankan Cricket by Nicholas Brookes.

The six books on the 2024 shortlist are:

Son of Grace, Frank Worrell A Biography, Vaneisa Baksh, Fairfield Books

Bazball, The Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution, Lawrence Booth and Nick Hoult, Bloomsbury

Stumped, Shomit Dutta, Concord Theatricals

Sticky Dogs and Stardust, When the Legends Played in the Leagues, Scott Oliver, Fairfield Books

White Hot, The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions, Tim Wigmore and Matt Roller, Bloomsbury

The Tour: The Story of the England Cricket Team Overseas 1877-2022, Simon Wilde, Simon and Schuster

Other books considered for the shortlist included:

How to be a Cricket Fan: A Life in 50 Artefacts from WG to Wisden, Matthew Appleby, Pitch

Disappearing World, Our 18 First-Class Cricket Counties, Scyld Berry, Pitch

Turning Over the Pebbles, Mike Brearley, Constable

Broadly Speaking, Stuart Broad, Hodder and Stoughton

Legacy, My Autobiography, Nick Compton, Allen and Unwin

From Darkness into Light, John Broom and Anthony Condon, Pitch

Footprints, David Foot’s Lifetime of Writing, Stephen Chalke, Charlcombe Books/ Fairfield Books

Balls to Fly, Ricky Ellcock, An Autobiography, Fairfield Books

Cambridge Sport in Fenner’s Hands, Nigel Fenner, self-published by Cambridge Sports Tours

Ashes 2023, A Cricket Classic, Gideon Haigh, Scribe Publications

All-India and Down Under, Peace, Partition and the Game of Cricket, Richard Knott, Pitch

No Picnic, The Historic First MCC Tour of India and Ceylon 1926-27, Jeremy Lonsdale, ACS Publications

Gilly: The Turbulent Life of Roy Gilchrist, Mark Peel, Pitch

Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, Mark Peel, Pitch

David Warner, Daring to be Different, Ken Piesse, Wilkinson Publishing

The Last Corinthian, The Cricketing Life of MJK Smith, Mike Thompson, Pitch

One Day at a Time, The History of Limited Overs Cricket in 25 Matches, David Tossell, Fairfield Books

 

Name of Author: Marylebone Cricket Club

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