LONGLISTED FOR THE CRICKET SOCIETY AND MCC BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2023.
“Fascinating” The Observer
“Illuminating” The Times
“Crickonomics is packed with sufficient statistical analysis to have the most ardent cricket geek purring with pleasure” Mail on Sunday
“An insightful, Hawk-Eye-like analysis of the numbers behind cricket” Financial Times
An engaging tour of the modern game from an award-winning journalist and the economist who co-authored the bestselling Soccernomics.
Why does England rely on private schools for their batters – but not their bowlers? How did demographics shape India's rise? Why have women often been the game's great innovators? Why does South Africa struggle to produce Black Test batters? And how does the weather impact who wins?
Crickonomics explores all of this and much more – including how Jayasuriya and Gilchrist transformed Test batting but T20 didn't; English cricket's great missed opportunity to have a league structure like football; why batters are paid more than bowlers; how Afghanistan is transforming German cricket; what the rest of the world can learn from New Zealand and even the Barmy Army's importance to Test cricket.
This incisive book will entertain and surprise all cricket lovers. It might even change how you watch the game.
Author(s): Stefan Szymanski, Tim Wigmore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Sport
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: London
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
Part One: Centres of Power: New and Old
1: Batters and bowlers, nature and nurture
2: The strange conservatism of Kerry Packer, and why Covid-19 will accelerate the rise of club cricket
3: An urban sport in a rural country: the challenge of Indian Cricket
4: An Ashes Education – why cricket’s oldest rivalry is the battle of private schools
5: The rise of New Zealand: by luck or design?
Part Two: Pioneers
6: Women’s cricket – a history of innovation
7: How Jayasuriya and Gilchrist transformed Test batting – but T20 didn’t
8: League cricket – the game’s great missed opportunity
9: A fair result in foul weather
Part Three: Cricket’s Problems
10: Cricket’s concussion crisis
11: Stereotypes
12: What will the future of women’s cricket look like? And the case for reparations
13: Why doesn’t South Africa produce more Black batters?
Part Four: Player Performance
14: The value of batting v bowling
15: Did the cold cost India a Test series victory in England?
16: Is the IPL efficient?
Part Five: The Fans
17: A day at the cricket
18: How the Barmy Army are keeping Test cricket alive – from their sofas
Part Six: The Future
19: How networks explain the rise of Asia
20: How Afghanistan is bringing cricket to Germany
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
