The competition, run by the Cricket Society since 1970 and in partnership with MCC since 2009, is for books nominated by MCC and Cricket Society Members, and is highly regarded by writers and publishers.
Books about Bazball and England’s white ball cricket revolution are included on the shortlist. So too is a biography of Frank Worrell, and, for the first time, a cricketing play – by Shomit Dutta – is chosen. A history of England’s tours and a look at international stars playing league cricket complete the list.
All six books and authors will be celebrated, and the winner announced, at the annual awards evening at Lord’s on Tuesday 9 April.
At the event, the Stephen Fay Award 2024 will also be made, posthumously, to Tony Cozier for his services to cricket and accepted on his behalf by Clive Lloyd.
"Judging, like cricket, is a game of fine lines"
Chair of judges Robert Winder said: “I know everyone always says this, but it really was a competitive year. The judges were painstaking, but sadly it was inevitable that a lot of good books would miss out. Judging, like cricket, is a game of fine lines.”
The 2023 winner was An Island’s Eleven, The Story of Sri Lankan Cricket by Nicholas Brookes.
The six books on the 2024 shortlist are:
Son of Grace, Frank Worrell A Biography, Vaneisa Baksh, Fairfield Books
Bazball, The Inside Story of a Test Cricket Revolution, Lawrence Booth and Nick Hoult, Bloomsbury
Stumped, Shomit Dutta, Concord Theatricals
Sticky Dogs and Stardust, When the Legends Played in the Leagues, Scott Oliver, Fairfield Books
White Hot, The Inside Story of England Cricket’s Double World Champions, Tim Wigmore and Matt Roller, Bloomsbury
The Tour: The Story of the England Cricket Team Overseas 1877-2022, Simon Wilde, Simon and Schuster
Other books considered for the shortlist included:
How to be a Cricket Fan: A Life in 50 Artefacts from WG to Wisden, Matthew Appleby, Pitch
Disappearing World, Our 18 First-Class Cricket Counties, Scyld Berry, Pitch
Turning Over the Pebbles, Mike Brearley, Constable
Broadly Speaking, Stuart Broad, Hodder and Stoughton
Legacy, My Autobiography, Nick Compton, Allen and Unwin
From Darkness into Light, John Broom and Anthony Condon, Pitch
Footprints, David Foot’s Lifetime of Writing, Stephen Chalke, Charlcombe Books/ Fairfield Books
Balls to Fly, Ricky Ellcock, An Autobiography, Fairfield Books
Cambridge Sport in Fenner’s Hands, Nigel Fenner, self-published by Cambridge Sports Tours
Ashes 2023, A Cricket Classic, Gideon Haigh, Scribe Publications
All-India and Down Under, Peace, Partition and the Game of Cricket, Richard Knott, Pitch
No Picnic, The Historic First MCC Tour of India and Ceylon 1926-27, Jeremy Lonsdale, ACS Publications
Gilly: The Turbulent Life of Roy Gilchrist, Mark Peel, Pitch
Yorkshire Grit: The Life of Ray Illingworth, Mark Peel, Pitch
David Warner, Daring to be Different, Ken Piesse, Wilkinson Publishing
The Last Corinthian, The Cricketing Life of MJK Smith, Mike Thompson, Pitch
One Day at a Time, The History of Limited Overs Cricket in 25 Matches, David Tossell, Fairfield Books