Even on the former though, it seemed obvious to link the social dynamics of batting vs bowling to the earlier chapter on private schooling in England, whereas this chapter was written as a standalone. Provides a fascinating explanation about how cricket works in the current age, why it got to the way it is, and how the sport might progress over the next 20 years, both with respect to the IPL and the expansion of the game to new regions of the globe. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting. That said, it does draw on many lessons from other sports and may well be of interest to those with a wider interest in sports development. 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.

Perhaps unfairly, I was anticipating more counterintuitave insights than were demonstrated in the book, and each chapter was distinct making it feel like a collection of features rather than part of an overall narrative of the game. Part history, part data analysis, part reflection on the sport’s future, Crickonomics is exactly what the title suggests – a diagnosis of the state of professional cricket through the lens of data analysis economics. A contest that may last five days, including several stretches where no runs are scored and indeed nothing much happens, and still ends in a draw. The book covers several topics that I was previously unaware of and contradicts several popular myths about the game. In general, the chapters based in other countries intrigued me more as I knew less about them, while the stories were told well.It looks at the growth of the women' game and interestingly how India in particular is supporting the development of the junior cricket nations in Asia, while in comparatively, little has been done to support growth in among European nations. Any changes made can be done at any time and will become effective at the end of the trial period, allowing you to retain full access for 4 weeks, even if you downgrade or cancel. If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month. I have loved cricket all my life and I like a stat (including a bonkers Andy Zaltzman stat) so I expected to love Crickonomics. This was an interesting read and flowed nicely, but didn't have the level of novel insight I was expecting.

Sports coverage can be lost in the day to day events so this did fill a gap in the market, and it was never a chore. His books include Soccernomics, Money and Football, National Pastime, Playbooks and Checkbooks and Winners and Losers. This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use.

and together they have turned their attention to cricket: the result is an enlightening, surprising and enjoyable read. Different questions will be of differing levels of interest to readers but the book never falls into the trap of overburdening readers with too much raw data. It’s an interesting question (as are many of the questions in the book) and the authors produce lots of data to answer it: analyses to check whether it is true and not just a stereotype (it is true) and several tables of data analysing all sorts of things to do with the issue. They employ close analysis and well developed argument to explore many questions about the sport - why do more England batsman come from the south of England and a private education while most bowlers come from more humble origins in the north, to the intriguingly entitled final chapter which explores 'How Afghanistan is bringing cricket to Germany'. However, to this general reader and average cricket fan it was less readable and enjoyable than I had hoped.

And a final chapter on the rise of cricket in Germany driven by Afghan refugees is a real eye-opener.An engaging tour of the modern game from an award-winning journalist and the economist who co-authored the bestselling Soccernomics.

As an example, the first section deals with the influence of class in English cricket and why there tend to be more Southern, privately educated batters, but a predominance of Northern, state educated bowlers.Will India's cricketing wealth make it the dominant cricket nation in the future, and can the world of cricket expand beyond its traditional strongholds? The final chapter in particular highlights how poor the authorities have been at handling the game - but shows hope for the future.