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The Grade Cricketer: Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings: The unwritten rules of clubland
Bigger, buffer and even more insecure than before, The Grade Cricketer is back
'Brilliantly funny and unnervingly real, in Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings, Sam and Ian capture club cricket culture to perfection.' - Adam Gilchrist
After wasting several years becoming a worldwide sports comedy phenomenon, The Grade Cricketer is back to deliver another sharp, hilarious and often risqué critique of the game. Full of side-splitting humour, it's a brilliant skewering of sporting masculinity and cricket culture, channelling the raucous energy of Sam Perry and Ian Higgins' hit podcast, TV, radio and live shows.
A hallowed, suspicious-smelling manual, Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings is an induction to grade cricket handed down through generations of cricketers who weren't quite good enough to play professionally.
Outrageous, ridiculous and sadly completely true, it's the handbook you should not give to any aspiring young cricketer.
Praise for The Grade Cricketer:
'The Grade Cricketer nails it for anyone who's ever donned a pair of whites. Underneath all the laughs, he's just saying what we're all thinking. I actually find it hard to believe he's a fictional character ...' - Merv Hughes
'The Grade Cricketer is the finest tribute to a sport since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, and the best cricket book in yonks!' - Tom Keneally
'The Grade Cricketer has taken us so far inside a district club dressing room that you feel like a locker. Ligaments could not be closer to the bone than some of his observations.' - Kerry O'Keeffe
'The Grade Cricketer is strange and, I suspect, brilliant'. - Wisden
'Brilliantly funny and unnervingly real, in Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings, Sam and Ian capture club cricket culture to perfection.' - Adam Gilchrist
After wasting several years becoming a worldwide sports comedy phenomenon, The Grade Cricketer is back to deliver another sharp, hilarious and often risqué critique of the game. Full of side-splitting humour, it's a brilliant skewering of sporting masculinity and cricket culture, channelling the raucous energy of Sam Perry and Ian Higgins' hit podcast, TV, radio and live shows.
A hallowed, suspicious-smelling manual, Alphas, Champs and Chop Kings is an induction to grade cricket handed down through generations of cricketers who weren't quite good enough to play professionally.
Outrageous, ridiculous and sadly completely true, it's the handbook you should not give to any aspiring young cricketer.
Praise for The Grade Cricketer:
'The Grade Cricketer nails it for anyone who's ever donned a pair of whites. Underneath all the laughs, he's just saying what we're all thinking. I actually find it hard to believe he's a fictional character ...' - Merv Hughes
'The Grade Cricketer is the finest tribute to a sport since Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, and the best cricket book in yonks!' - Tom Keneally
'The Grade Cricketer has taken us so far inside a district club dressing room that you feel like a locker. Ligaments could not be closer to the bone than some of his observations.' - Kerry O'Keeffe
'The Grade Cricketer is strange and, I suspect, brilliant'. - Wisden
162 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
21 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2026
A hilarious take on local cricket clubs with the grade cricketer charm that podcast listeners have come to know and love.
Would recommend to any local cricketer that has experienced how many clubs operated in yesteryear (ie more than 5 years ago) as the stories and topics discussed are very relatable.
My highlight of the book is the final chapter which discusses how clubs are changing for the better which is down to being more inclusive. Something which again, is relatable to many.
Would recommend to any local cricketer that has experienced how many clubs operated in yesteryear (ie more than 5 years ago) as the stories and topics discussed are very relatable.
My highlight of the book is the final chapter which discusses how clubs are changing for the better which is down to being more inclusive. Something which again, is relatable to many.
January 1, 2026
A genuine laugh-out-loud book read over a few days after Christmas. It was quite crude at times (especially the tub culture chapter) but, as another review mentioned, this is all part of what makes it authentic. I appreciated the moments when it showed some heart too.
“Cricket reflecting life is only a cliche because it’s unrelentingly true. It stands to reason that today’s cricketers are far more proficient in divorcing ‘outcome’ from ‘feeling’. The new generation of players better understand the futility and risk of playing with continual emotional desperation, embodying the two imposters of triumph and disaster….”
“Cricket reflecting life is only a cliche because it’s unrelentingly true. It stands to reason that today’s cricketers are far more proficient in divorcing ‘outcome’ from ‘feeling’. The new generation of players better understand the futility and risk of playing with continual emotional desperation, embodying the two imposters of triumph and disaster….”
December 30, 2025
This was a Christmas presents from my brother and is deliberately vulgar and often excessive, but that is largely the point. The book captures the tone of real cricket chat as it exists in changerooms and group messages, full of exaggeration, repetition, and in jokes that feel immediately familiar to anyone who has spent time around the game.
The humour will not appeal to everyone, and at times it leans heavily on crudeness. However, this works in its favour as a representation of how cricket is actually talked about rather than how it is usually presented. Pezza and Higgos are particularly sharp in highlighting the quirks of grade cricket culture, especially the inflated importance given to ordinary performances and minor moments.
While it is not subtle or polished, Grade Cricketer succeeds as an honest and recognisable snapshot of a unique sporting subculture, and its commitment to authenticity is ultimately what makes it effective. Moreover it ties in which my current cricket obsession that seems to spur up annually around the test cricket season.
The humour will not appeal to everyone, and at times it leans heavily on crudeness. However, this works in its favour as a representation of how cricket is actually talked about rather than how it is usually presented. Pezza and Higgos are particularly sharp in highlighting the quirks of grade cricket culture, especially the inflated importance given to ordinary performances and minor moments.
While it is not subtle or polished, Grade Cricketer succeeds as an honest and recognisable snapshot of a unique sporting subculture, and its commitment to authenticity is ultimately what makes it effective. Moreover it ties in which my current cricket obsession that seems to spur up annually around the test cricket season.
December 31, 2025
Hilarious. A relatable guide to the bizarre operators at every local cricket club.
January 14, 2026
I listen to these blokes a lot. This was a fun and frivolous read.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews