More than any other sport, cricket highlights our peculiarities and quirks, our strengths and weaknesses – sporting or otherwise. It welcomes all-comers, no matter what their quirks or achievements. Cricketing Allsorts celebrates those oddities and records, and offers a lively portrait of the game and its players in all their glory and eccentricity. Presented in the form of 'top ten' lists and illustrated with photographs from through the ages, Cricketing Allsorts covers all aspects of the game, both on and off the field. It guides us through topics such as: - the top cricketing love affairs, featuring Keith Miller and Princess Margaret - the greatest bowing partnerships, including Wasim & Waqar, Laker & Lock and Ramadhin & Valentine - the best fictional cricketers, including Hooker Knight and Flashman - the most brutal bowling spells, as Donald roughs up Atherton and Ambrose mauls England - the game's most iconic fashion statements, such as Clive Lloyd's glasses and Gower's blue socks - the greatest dynasties, including the Cowdreys and the Pollocks - the most memorable sixes, featuring Dhoni, Sobers and Albert Trott - the most unlikely cricket fans, such as Barack Obama, Roger Federer and the Taliban. An engaging, witty and affectionate look at all things cricket, Cricketing Allsorts is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to know anything and everything about the game, and the perfect gift for any cricket fan.

As famous for its complicated rules as it is for its contentious (and lengthy) matches, cricket is the quintessentially English sport. Or is it? From cricket in literature to sticky wickets, Cricketing Lives is a paean to the quirky characters and global phenomenon that are cricket. Cricket is defined by the characters who have played it, watched it, reported it, ruled upon it, ruined it, and rejoiced in it. Humorous and deeply affectionate, Cricketing Lives tells the story of the world’s greatest and most incomprehensible game through those who have shaped it, from the rustic contests of eighteenth-century England to the spectacle of the Indian Premier League. It’s about W. G. Grace and his eye to his wallet; the invincible Viv Richards; and Sarah Taylor, “the best wicketkeeper in the world.” Richard H. Thomas steers a course through the despair of war, tactical controversies, and internecine politics, to reveal how cricket has always warmed our hearts as nothing else can.

Marcus Berkmann, author of the cricket classics Rain Men and Zimmer Men, returns to the great game with this irresistible miscellany of cricketing trivia, stories and more fascinating facts than Geoffrey Boycott could shake a stick of rhubarb at. Which England captain smoked two million cigarettes in his lifetime? Which Australian captain, asked what his favourite animal was, said 'Merv Hughes'? What did Hitler think of cricket? Which National Hunt trainer had a dog called Sobers? Who was described in his obituary as 'perhaps the only unequivocally popular man in Yorkshire'? No other sport is so steeped in oddness and eccentricity. There's the only Test player ever to be executed for murder, the only first-class cricketer to die on the Titanic, and the only bestselling author to catch fire while playing at Lord's. (It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The ball hit a box of matches in his pocket.) All cricket is here, including an XI entirely made up of players who share their names with freshwater fish.

In It Takes All Sorts, Peter Roebuck meanders through his 25-year career in reporting cricket, to reveal the people and the personalities who have touched his life and contributed to his life-long passion for the game. Roebuck provides warts-and-all insights into the comings and goings, greats and not-so-greats, debuts and retirements, the controversies of recent professional cricket and great innings in between. Roebuck has seen it all and isn't afraid to comment: he's interviewed Sir (or is that Saint?) Garfield Sobers' mum, was on the scene (and on the front page) when Gilchrist walked, poked gentle fun at Inzamam's fielding, and touched many with his account of young Sri Lankan boys playing cricket on a beach in Galle. Peter Roebuck pulls no punches - whether friend or foe, all his subjects are linked by the great and noble game of cricket and he is not afraid to tell it how he sees it.