Book: The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket

Cricket has never been discussed as deeply as in The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket. The collaboration of Peter Arnold and Peter Wynne-Thomas brings this definitive reference book on cricket that has everything you need to know about the game. The cover featuring England's Andrew Strauss, Pakistan's Twenty20 champions, Australia's Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, South Africa's Dale Steyn and the Deccan Chargers show the diverse nature of this encyclopaedia which covers all formats of the game, Tests, One-Day and Twenty20. The book is divided in six parts, with the first one dealing with history of the game right from the very start in the 1800s. The turn of the century is described well and is also helped by photographs and illustrations which are not only rare but of high quality too. In the second part, the domestic cricket of each and every Test and One-Day playing nation is discussed with brief mention of associate members as well. Be it the record of Sheffield Shield in Australia, the Star Trophy in Sri Lanka, Quaid-i-Azam Trophy in Pakistan or Ranji in India, the details of all major domestic tournaments are given along with their origin and significance. Test cricket is discussed at length in the third part. The head-to-head records of all Test playing nations are what makes this part interesting than its predecessors. Be it India Vs. Pakistan matches, the Ashes series or the matches between West Indies and South Africa, all are mentioned here with up-to-date records as well. If you found the third part most interesting, think again, as fourth part discusses the carnival known as the Cricket World Cup. All the editions of the event — from the first World Cup in 1975 till the last so far in 2007 — are summarised so as to make the readers know about them quickly. The fifth part features 'The Greatest Cricketers' with special mention of a selected few who get a full page. More than a 100 are briefly talked about in this chapter as well which kicks off with Abdul Qadir and concludes with another Pakistani great Zaheer Abbas. The 'Famous Grounds' are discussed in the sixth and final chapter of the book where maps of all Test playing nations with the mention of prominent Test centres help paint a better picture. 'If it's cricket, it's in the book' as the tagline on the back cover indicates, The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket has it all from facts and figures, statistics and history as well as other information. Go ahead and make it part of your collection. — S.F.