The Great Leap Forward

WISDEN CRICKET MONTHLY

Issue 86 EDITORIAL T: 0203 696 5730

Turn and face the strain

WISDEN CRICKET MONTHLY

THE Top Six

The month in cricket No.1

Panic on the streets of (north) London

As the English domestic game takes a leap into the unknown, Middlesex risk being left behind, writes Andrew Miller

Team of the Month

Jo Harman picks a side of the month’s standout performers including three members of India’s Champions Trophy-winning side and an emerging star from South Africa

Love in short supply for peerless India

Following their second global trophy in less than a year at last month’s Champions Trophy, returning columnist Mark Ramprakash analyses the reasons behind India’s success and considers why coverage of their triumphs has been tinged with resentment

Buttler was Brown to Morgan’s Blair – he never had a fair hand

Following Jos Buttler’s resignation as white-ball skipper after England’s winless Champions Trophy campaign, Jo Harman unpicks a “curiously hollow” tenure

Money talks and Saudi Arabia won’t take no for an answer

Following reports of a new eight-team, four-times-a-year T20 tournament backed by Saudi Arabia, Lawrence Booth argues it’s a case of when not if the Gulf state exert their influence on cricket

NEWS CYCLE

Are any snacks companies looking for a magazine column to sponsor, asks Ben Gardner

RE:VIEW

There are two big vacancies at the top of English cricket – but who should fill them? We asked three writers to choose who they would like to see replace Heather Knight and Jos Buttler

Greener Futures

NO.8 SOAKING UP THE SUN

Mailbox

Letter of the month receives a copy of Lara: The England Chronicles , signed by the great man himself

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

Matt Roller opens our 26-page preview of the 2025 county season by considering what the influx of money from the Hundred sale could mean for the future of the English domestic game and whether the old and the new can comfortably co-exist

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO 2025

Sam Dalling gives a whistle-stop tour of the moments you won’t want to miss this summer

County Championship PREVIEW

Jo Harman analyses how each of the 18 counties are shaping up ahead of the 2025 campaign

BOWL FAST OR DIE TRYING

Rob Key has been crystal-clear about his desire for genuine pace in England’s Test line-up, but Jo Harman asks if there’s room for more flexibility as Ben Stokes’ side embark on their defining year

THE BOMB SQUAD

The six strapping quicks picked in England Test squads since Key took charge in April 2022

‘Essex have been good to me. They helped me as a coach and as a person. I’m loyal to that ’

After enough years living out of a suitcase, Chris Silverwood, the former England and Sri Lanka coach, is back where it all began, newly installed as Essex’s director of cricket. He tells Phil Walker why it’s the right time to be coming home

LEVELLING UP

With women’s domestic cricket formally aligning with the men’s county structure for the first time this summer, Katya Witney takes a closer look at the transition and the motivation behind the change

WELCOME TO DAZBALL

A shock appointment as Northamptonshire’s head coach, Darren Lehmann speaks to Sam Dalling about why he took his new role, what he got wrong during his time in charge of Australia, and how a near-fatal heart attack has changed his outlook on the game and life in general

FAMILY FORTUNES

Irish cricket continues to be sustained by a relatively small number of families with deep roots in the game. Nathan Johns explores how those connections have driven professionalism forward, speaking to a father-and-son leg-spin duo who have both represented Ireland at the highest level

IRISH CRICKETING ROYALTY

Joyces All told, there were nine children in

Mining for Gold

No. 10 The great white-ball finishers

CARL HOOPER

The Guyanese strokemaker on how he developed his effortless style, the experience of playing alongside his idols, and how leadership brought out the best in him

The Bat Test 2025

O n a bright morning in early March,

New Balance

Stalwarts of the scene these days, churning out

Newbery

Resurgent after a quiet few years, it’s good to

Gray-Nicolls

Led by visionary master batmaker Alex Hohenkerk, the guys

Kookaburra

Kookaburra’s main schtick is consistency. There’s no more reliable

The Top Three DKP

A Birmingham-born brand formed in 2014 with a cracking

DSC

DSC was founded in India in the Eighties

Salix

Needs no introduction. Andrew Kember is still one

DKP Made in Birmingham

A brand born and developed in the heartlands of Birmingham and steeped in the earthiness of league cricket, DKP is dedicated to bringing high-quality and affordable kit to club cricketers. WCM spoke to founder Nikunj Patel about the brand’s irresistible origin story, and where it goes next

ME+U One Step Beyond

Founded in 2023 by Matt Carter and Richard Woodhouse, and in partnership with a whole host of cricket and footwear experts, ME+U are in the vanguard of the design of innovative cricket shoes. Phil Walker spoke to Carter to find out more

A Love Supreme

This legendary name in batmaking is branching out into newer markets, revitalised by fresh ideas, an evolving marketplace and wedding bells in the workshop. Long-time fan Phil Walker headed to Kent to see where the magic happens

Pro:Direct & Admiral From the Ashes

Ahead of a summer marking 20 years since the series that changed everything, WCM sat down with Marcus Trescothick to relive the sights, sounds and iconography of the greatest Ashes of them all

Euro Vision

As the European Cricket League returns for its 2025 edition, Adam Hopkins finds out what it’s all about

Jersey boys

E d Giles from Jersey club Old Victorians,

Ramadan in league of its own at Lord’s and Edgbaston

Observing Ramadan, and how cricketers navigate fasting during this sacred month, were highlighted in March at two Test-match grounds, as Matt Thacker reports

David Heywood

Number 91

TAKE YOUR PICK

It’s book awards season again. At the onset of spring it is not just cricket fans who are impatiently waiting for things to kick off, this is also a nervous time for authors who have written cricket books over the last year as judges are starting to deliberate. The Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards in association with the Sunday Times , now in its 23rd year, is perhaps the highest profile of them all, with a gala dinner taking place at The Oval on 1 May. There are six books in the Cricket Book of the Year category and here we run the rule over them all.

Time Warp

The winner of this month’s quiz will receive

Books of the Month

ABOVE: Shamar Joseph sprints across The Gabba in

ON THE SOCS

This month we profile a society on the south coast that is a hive of activity throughout the winter

THE STORY OF CRICKET IN 50 BOOKS

David Woodhouse asks why one of the greatest cricket books of the 20th century devotes so much of its attention to the greatest cricketer of the 19th

The Choice That Changed My Life

WAYNE MADSEN

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