Cricket Biography

Mike Brearley is one of the most successful cricket captains of all time, and in 1981 he captained the England team to the momentous Ashes series victory against Australia. In The Art of Captaincy, his treatise on leadership and motivation, he draws directly on his experience of man-managing a team, which included a pugnacious Ian Botham and Geoffrey Boycott, to explain what it takes to be a leader on and off the field.

The most inspirational story in Indian cricket is that of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Generations will remember Dhoni for hitting the spectacular winning six for India in the finals of the 50-over World Cup in 2011 against Sri Lanka, but it is the hope he has given to many aspiring cricketers across this nation that is his true legacy. Born in the lap of poverty and having battled against unimaginable adversities, Dhoni's rise from being just another small-town boy to captain of Team India is a case study in B-schools.

Seventy-five minutes of laughter, anecdotes, and memories from cricket's best-loved umpire. Now collected for the first time on one audiobook, here are the brilliant highlights from Dickie Bird's three best-selling recordings: My Autobiography, White Cap and Bails, and An Evening with Dickie Bird. From his childhood in Barnsley to his hilarious experiences with Test cricketers, here are the best stories from cricket's favourite storyteller.

Legendary cricket broadcaster Henry Blofeld takes the listener on a journey from A-Z through the world of cricket. In his trademark charming style, Blowers goes through the alphabet, explaining some of the puzzling cricket terminology and regaling his favourite anecdotes from his 50 years in the sport, covering the most important moments in the sport's history as well as the most entertaining and amusing.

I’m only in my mid-20s, and some might think that’s young to write a memoir. Who does that, right? But for me and my team it’s always been important to reflect on every part of the journey, especially the end. In that context, the timing is perfect to share my story, from the first time I picked up a racket as a five-year-old girl in Ipswich, to the night I packed up my tennis bag at Melbourne Park after winning the 2022 Australian Open.

During the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India, Glenn Maxwell played the most audacious, improbable innings in the history of one-day cricket. Yet less than a year earlier he had been in hospital with a shattered leg, unsure whether he would ever be able to play again. This is the story of that year, from devastation to triumph; twelve months of frustration on the road to recovery, as well as jubilation when Glenn became a father. It’s also an exploration of his life before—the moments and decisions that informed this defining year.

In this new anecdotal book, the unstoppable Dickie Bird takes one County Cricket Club at a time and revisits each with the aid of memorabilia, statistics, books and videos. A mass of new hilarious stories flow from Dickie as he flexes his memory: he describes the cricketers, the matches and the character of these clubs. Dickie also relives his journeys as a umpire to clubs and Test match arenas overseas and recalls the humorous times that have filled his unique career.

From being Champion of Champions to one of the world's top cricket commentators to Team India's head coach, Ravi Shastri has an incomparable perspective when it comes to the game of cricket. In Stargazing: The Players in My Life, the legendary all-rounder looks back at the extraordinary talent he has encountered over the years.

Anthony 'Harry' Moffitt spent more than 20 years in the SAS. His decades of service and his multiple tours in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan made him one of the regiment's most experienced and recognised figures. Alongside the SAS, Harry's other lifetime love is cricket. An improvised game of cricket was often the circuit-breaker Harry and his team needed after the tension of operations. He began a tradition of organising matches wherever he was sent.

Here, for the first time, the world of a pro cricketer is revealed, and the man pulling back the dressing room curtains is one of England's greatest ever cricketers: James 'Jimmy' Anderson. 565 Test Wickets and counting. Written with Felix White - musician, cricket enthusiast and Anderson's co-host on BBC Five Live's phenomenally popular podcast Tailenders - Jimmy invites us all into his world of cricket.

Green grass, blue skies, white flannels and the gentle thwack of leather on willow: the quintessential image of Englishness that heralds the start of the cricket season. A so-called gentleman's game developed with the principle of fair play at its hearts. All well and true - unless you're a person of colour living in Britain today. Azeem Rafiq, the former Yorkshire cricketer and England youth captain, learnt this the hard way.

It is not often that an author and his editor strike up a relationship which survives forty years of epistolary exchanges and intellectual sparring. The strangely enduring and occasionally fractious friendship which developed between the famously outspoken historian Ramachandra Guha and his reticent editor Rukun Advani is the subject of this quite eccentric and thoroughly compelling literary memoir.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Six Machine by Chris Gayle, read by Leroy Osei-Bonsu. 'If the ball's there, hit it. Don't worry about what might happen. Play for the glory. Play for the six.' Chris Gayle is the only man to have ever hit a six off the first ball of a test match.

College freshman, Finley Farrow, has two fairly ambitious goals this school year: make the football team and get over Shepard Connelly. The gorgeous football player with the magnificent voice would one day be a star on or off the field. But he’ll never see her as more than his best friend’s sister. Now her eye is on the end zone. Making the team could turn out to be the easy part. Practicing with Shepard every day while ignoring her feelings? The real challenge.

In this book, Suresh Raina takes us through the challenges he faced as a young cricketer. He was bullied in school and at cricket camps, but he always punched above his weight, overcoming every adversity life threw at him and never giving up. This is the story of the lessons he learnt and the friendships he built.

In 1960, Frank Worrell was appointed the first Black captain of the West Indies cricket team. Within three years he was knighted; within five, the West Indies were the champions of the world and would come to dominate cricket with their wicked bowling and electrifying play. Yet two years later, in 1967, Worrell died of leukaemia and cricket lost its 'ideal cricketer'. But Worrell wasn't merely an extraordinarily talented and record-breaking sportsman. By the time he died he was a founder of the University of the West Indies and a Jamaican senator.

Harold Larwood is an England cricketing legend. During the MCC’s notorious 1932–3 Ashes tour of Australia, his ‘Bodyline’ bowling left Australia’s batsmen bruised and battered, halved the batting average of the great Don Bradman – and gave England a 4–1 series victory. But the diplomatic row that followed brought Anglo-Australian relations to the brink of collapse. Larwood was used as a scapegoat by the MCC, which demanded he apologise for bowling Bodyline.

Out of the box thinking, ruthless pragmatism and an innate ability to understand, define and then redefine the game of cricket are probably the hallmarks of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's cricket. From hitting countless sixes in his school ground in the sleepy town of Ranchi to finishing a run chase with another towering six in a World Cup final against Sri Lanka, Dhoni's journey is undoubtedly one of the most iconic of our times. Many have tried to decode his mystique, and yet, every account seems to have fallen frustratingly short of capturing the essence of the man.

Following his passing in 2019, tributes to Bob came flooding in in every major news outlet and from every major figure in the industry - and outside of it. His career spanned decades, from his days as a cricketer for England to his time as a pundit on Sky TV. This autobiography includes never-before-seen writing from Bob alongside contributions from key figures as well as a detailed account of the great England victory over Australia at Headingly in 1981.

Record-breaking England cricketer, wartime RAF hero, Tottenham Hotspur footballer, and husband to five wives... this is the captivating life of one of England's most remarkable yet often overlooked cricketing heroes. A history of cricket victories, explosive controversies, wartime glory and a life lived to the fullest, this compelling biography reveals the story of one of cricketing’s greatest characters.