Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2020

The annual summary of the cricket world. Great for statistics and a review of the year.

It’s that time again. It takes twelve months for it to come around, but it’s finally here, and it’s some relief to be able to take your mind off all the mayhem outside. Yes, Wisden has landed on the doormat. Well, handed over by the postman. Sort of. With a page count exactly the same as last year, 1536, this is still ‘the Bible’ to many and those many are certainly going to have plenty of time to read it from cover to cover in the next few months.As expected, the World Cup takes up a fair chunk of the text (near 100 pages and eight of photos - and the jacket photo) and every Englishman and woman will revel once more in the final itself. Not so exciting is the article on The Hundred, which makes for dismal reading, for me anyway, something the ‘Notes by the Editor’ probably agrees with. Some think it will be saviour of English cricket; others are fearful. The superb article 'County Outgrounds' even goes as far as to suggest cricket could become ' the monopoly of the urban elite'. England might be world champions but the ECB has relegated the domestic 50 over competition to an also ran, probably hoping it disappears for good. You have been warned!As usual, the obituaries throw up surprises. This year, it's a single entrant. Robert Mugabe, former president of Zimbabwe during an often violent regime, is the one. But what the majority of us turn to first is the section on our own county, with Kent finishing a credible fourth, a position the county found itself in for the Champion County table for the last six decades.There’s no point in telling you whether this is excellent or not, as you already know it is. You also know you’re going to buy this because you always do. With all what's going on right now and cricket on the back burner until June, but more than likely longer, I wonder what the publisher’s will fill up next year’s almanack with? Wisden survived both WW1 and WW2, so I'm sure something will materialise.Wisden is like an old friend who never changes and shows no signs of slowing down, and there's something comforting in staying the same.

It’s that time again. It takes twelve months for it to come around, but it’s finally here, and it’s some relief to all the mayhem outside. Yes, Wisden has landed on the doormat. Well, handed over by the postman. Sort of. With a page count exactly the same as last year, 1536, this is still ‘the Bible’ to many and those many are certainly going to have plenty of time to read it from cover to cover in the next few months.As expected, the World Cup takes up a fair chunk of the text (near 100 pages and eight of photos - and the jacket photo) and every Englishman and woman will revel once more in the final itself. Not so exciting is the article on The Hundred, which makes for dismal reading, for me anyway, something the ‘Notes by the Editor’ probably agrees with. Some think it will be saviour of English cricket; others are fearful. The superb article 'County Outgrounds' even goes as far as to suggest cricket could become ' the monopoly of the urban elite'. England might be world champions but the ECB has relegated the domestic 50 over competition to an also ran, probably hoping it disappears for good. You have been warned!As usual, the obituaries throw up surprises. This year, it's a single entrant. Robert Mugabe, former president of Zimbabwe during an often violent regime, is the one. But what the majority of us turn to first is the section on our own county, with Kent finishing a credible fourth, a position the county found itself in for the Champion County table for the last six decades.There’s no point in telling you whether this is excellent or not, as you already know it is. You also know you’re going to buy this because you always do. With all what's going on right now and cricket on the back burner until June, but more than likely longer, I wonder what the publisher’s will fill up next year’s almanack with? Wisden survived both WW1 and WW2, so I'm sure something will materialise.Wisden is like an old friend who never changes and shows no signs of slowing down, and there's something comforting in staying the same.

This is Lawrence Booth's 9th Wisden as editor. The things he has done well continue to impress, but some long-standing problems persist. His notes are concise and pretty much on the spot. The featured articles are by-and-large excellent. I especially enjoyed the one on the 1970 S Africa tour which brought back a lot of memories. The "Women at MCC" piece is essential reading and the summary of the dreadful "hundred" is good. As has been the case every year since 1990, the book reviews are very readable. The highlight of the book are the Obituaries. It is a great shame that these are anonymous since the are generally both concise and of the highest standard.The book shows vividly the ongoing destruction of cricket as it has been known for many decades. Some of the county attendances are remarkable. Yet there are numerous "non-Enland qualified" players listed, paid well I assume, mostly S Africans. The ECB has a lot to answer for. The amount of cricket being played is absurd: this league or that league, money sprayed around. This is one of the most valuable roles of Wisden today: the reader can see for themselves what is going on.The book does suffer from "bloat". It is as if the idea of precise and focussed writing (and editing) are no longer seen as necessary. The test match reports have suffered from this for years now: looking back, this tendency to waffle seems to have originated after Graeme Wright stepped down as editor in 2002. There is too much text, embedded tables showing this or that "unusual" event, needless pictures of not great quality and, for England games, "notes and quotes". 6 pages on "cricket and the media" written by, guess who, a journalist! 8 pages on "England players in 2019", which is all summarised in a table at the end of the article! Then there are pages of dense text on the IPL, and even the "Mzansi super league" (p 1150), the "Oman T20 series" (p1098) etc. etc. Does anyone read this stuff? I must skip over 25% of Wisden now.I feel that the editor is doing his best, but is overwhelmed by the amount of cricket he feels needs including and, as a daily journalist, does not have the time to initiate the complete review of Wisden that is needed. Wisden 2021 is likely to be brief. So the editor and assistants do have some time to consider what it is they are trying to do before the 2022 edition. Wisden was once by-and-large a summary of the English season, with useful reports on overseas activities. It is interesting to compare the 2020 version with the 1976 Wisden that reported on the last time the World Cup and Ashes were in England in the same summer. The 1976 edition had its problems, notably a past-it editor, but in particular it does show how to write clear and especially concise match reports.

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.

As always the standard by which we judge all cricket debates and arguments. One wonders what will fill next year's edition given that game has disappeared for a spell.

Whats not to like - now have all years from 1979