Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2020

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack #157

by Lawrence Booth (Editor)

The 157th edition of the most famous sports book in the world--published every year since 1864--contains some of the finest sports writing of the year and covers every first-class game in every cricket nation, making it the cricketers' bible worldwide.

The most famous sports book in the world, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack has been published every year since 1864. Home to some of the finest sports writing of the year--from the likes of Lawrence Booth, Gideon Haigh, Rob Smyth, Patrick Collins, Simon Wilde, Osman Samiuddin, Tony Cozier, Benj Moorehead, Raf Nicholson and Dileep Premachandran--it includes the eagerly awaited Notes by the Editor, the Cricketers of the Year awards, and the famous obituaries. As always, it contains coverage of every first-class game in every cricket nation, and reports and scorecards for all Tests and ODIs, together with trenchant opinion, compelling features and comprehensive records.

This year's edition--the 157th, Wisden 2020.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports

1536 pages, Hardcover

Published June 9, 2020

Reviews

[Richard Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece, as always. This year, the added bonus is that my name is in it.

[John Isles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for every cricket fan, and with almost no cricket going on anywhere in the world as I write this, there is little for a cricket follower to do but review the triumphs and disasters of the past. In more than 1500 pages this book includes an account of every important game of the preceding calendar year, as well as some perhaps less important. We can relive the thrills of the World Cup and the Ashes, and read how play was stopped by a fox and a goose, how a test-match cricket ball was refreshed by a spectator's beer, and how a lost ball was eventually found in the umpire's pocket. The chronicle of the year is enlivened by Nick Newman's cartoons, and the photographs show players in various action scenes such as being almost brained by a falling sightscreen. Full marks. I'm afraid next year's Wisden will be a much slimmer volume.

[Mark Reece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wisden largely follows the same format year after year, but it's a good one. The writing is forthright and intelligent, and the coverage comprehensive.

As always, the most enjoyable parts of the almanack are the zanier stories at the edges of the cricketing world, such as the international game abandoned because most of one team had been arrested for shoplifting, and the games that were delayed after the players were attacked by a variety of wildlife.

It's sad to imagine that perhaps there won't be an edition next year because of Coronavirus.

[Stephen Marchant · Rating 5 out of 5]

The almanack is almost too heavy to pick up. It’s time to split it into men’s and women’s editions

[Jim Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that most, if not all, cricket fans know what they think about this book before they read the reviews here, because it has had the same structure for years. This said, here's my review...

This book looks at the year in world cricket that was 2019-20, with a particularly English focus on things, and the English Season in particular. It has all the usual content you find in a Wisden, five cricketers of the year, details of county games, one day tournaments there, and test matches and the like, and opinion pieces about how the game has progressed over the past year.

If you're stats minded and are the sort who'll want to refer back to what happened in a game, a player or a season in the future, I think this is book is for you. It gives you a good sense of what 2016 was like in cricket.