Test Cricket

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What to expect

SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025

'Wonderfully wide-focused, unfailingly readable and laced with passages of insightful analysis, Tim Wigmore's history of test cricket is a true tour de force.' David Kynaston

'Much more than simply a history of Test cricket, this is a colourful, modern take on the sport's most treasured format. I've commentated on over 400 Tests and learned so much from this wonderful book. Wigmore lays bare the challenges Test cricket faces and the fight required to preserve it.' Jonathan Agnew, BBC Test Match Special

'Hugely informative and enjoyable - a fantastic achievement. A must-read for all cricket lovers.' - Peter Frankopan

'Excellent' Mike Atherton

'A vibrant, global history of the oldest form of cricket. Told across decades and vast spans of geography, using history, memoir, stats, science and the voices of greats living and gone, it is destined to be a classic . . . Monumental.' The Hindu

The first narrative history of Test cricket.

Test cricket is on the cusp of its 150th anniversary. For the first time, Test Cricket: A History tells the full, gripping story of the players and stories that have shaped the game's evolution since 1877.
Award-winning author Tim Wigmore brings to life both Test cricket on the pitch and the game's social significance around the world. This captivating tour is illuminated by dozens of exclusive interviews with the game's greatest players, including Sachin Tendulkar, Pat Cummins, Michael Holding, Muthiah Muralidaran, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Chappell, Dale Steyn and Rahul Dravid.

From Bodyline to Bazball, the golden age to the rise of West Indies, and Shane Warne to Ian Botham, readers will come to appreciate Test cricket's remarkable history like never before.

Critics Review

This encyclopedic history, packed with famous incident and arresting analysis, should be in everyone's cricket library
Rahul Bhattacharya
This exceptional blend of traditional history and journalistic research gives us a cricket history like no other
Scyld Berry, Daily Telegraph and author of Cricket: The Game of Life
Wonderfully wide-focused, unfailingly readable and laced with passages of insightful analysis, Tim Wigmore's history of test cricket is a true tour de force
David Kynaston
A riveting, authoritative, and passionate chronicle of cricket's greatest game: the Test
Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland
Much more than simply a history of Test cricket, this is a colourful, modern take on the sport's most treasured format. I've commentated on over 400 Tests and learned so much from this wonderful book. Wigmore lays bare the challenges Test cricket faces and the fight required to preserve it
Jonathan Agnew, BBC Test Match Special
A vital and fresh history of the game's legacy format; most significantly, given it remains cricket's most exclusive format, it is an inclusive history. Wigmore meticulously charts the global forces that have shaped Test cricket
Osman Samiuddin, author of The Unquiet Ones: A History of Pakistan Cricket
Tim Wigmore has established himself as one of cricket's most incisive analysts and writers, blending his engaging, innovative use of modern data with a deep knowledge of the game's history. These qualities come together in this compelling book
Andy Zaltzman, Test Match Special
Hugely informative and enjoyable - a fantastic achievement. A must-read for all cricket lovers
Peter Frankopan
Tim Wigmore's new book Test Cricket: a History charts a narrative history of the longest format with contributions from the game's biggest characters. A riveting and lovingly researched tome thrumming with detail, anecdote and incisive facts
The Guardian
A great eye for fascinating details and the bizarre serendipities of history
New Statesman
Above all the book shows why Test cricket matters
Yorkshire Post
Tim Wigmore is possibly the finest current cricket writer for providing thoughtful analysis . . . [he] negotiates a huge field deftly and elegantly
Country Life
Rich in anecdotes and the perfect accompaniment to the English cricketing summer
Choice
Wigmore has written a splendid, comprehensive book full of good stories...sparkling and entertaining...
The Spectator

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