The Penguin Cricketer's Companion

Alan Ross (1922-2001) was educated at Haileybury and Oxford and played cricket for Oxford and the Royal Navy in which he served during the Second World War. He was cricket correspondent for the Observer (1953-72) and for the Times. He has written a number of books on cricket and a number of volumes of poetry.The Penguin Cricketer’s Companion is a superb anthology of poetry and prose written by some of our greatest writers including Charles Dickens. There are other items about our greatest cricketers such as Box on Grace- and Cardus on Bradman with sections on Poetry and New Poetry. The largest section however is called ‘The Poetry of Cricket’. This is perhaps no surprise bearing in mind Alan Ross’s twin passions of poetry and cricket. This book is truly the best that English cricket writing can offer.First published in 1960 this is the Penguin edition of 1981 reprinted 1984; 575 pages of excellent writing with an author’s index.