Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2021

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack #158

by Lawrence Booth (editor)

The 158th edition of the most famous sports book in the world. The 2021 edition of the cricketer's bible includes full coverage of the Cricket World Cup and this year's momentous drawn Ashes.

Published every year since 1864, the Wisden Cricketer's Almanack 2021 contains some of the finest sports writing of the year, and tells the story of England men's first World Cup win, as well as a remarkable Ashes series. Home to some of the finest sports writing of the year - from the likes of Lawrence Booth, Gideon Haigh, Tanya Aldred, Emma John, Andy Bull, Jon Hotten, Anand Vasu, Paul Edwards, Simon Wilde, Osman Samiuddin and Raf Nicholson - it includes the eagerly awaited Notes by the Editor, the Cricketers of the Year awards, and the famous obituaries. As always, it contains reports and scorecards for all Tests, one-day and Twenty20 internationals, together with trenchant opinion, compelling features and comprehensive records.

1248 pages, Hardcover

Published July 13, 2021

Reviews

[Jim Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m never terribly sure why anyone reviews the annual edition of this book. Everyone knows what it is, and how it’s laid out (notes from the author, articles from the great and good about certain cricketing topics, followed by page after page of statistics on the English and International cricket in the 2020-21 cricket year). This year is no different.

You’re a certain type of collector/stats nerd if you buy and/or read this book. You’ll enjoy this as a stats nerd if you’re said stats nerd. If you’ve read previous editions before, and enjoyed them, you’ll enjoy this book. If you’re starting out on your cricketing journey, it’s expensive, perhaps have a skim through it first to see if it’s really for your cup of tea.

[Mark Reece · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2021 wisden is shorter than usual, although still 1,248 pages long. The quality of the writing is as good as ever, and the cricket is almost incidental to it. Putting aside the match reports, there are the usual mix of articles, placing cricket within a social context around the world. There are also stories of animals stopping play, a cricketer being attacked by a monkey, etc.

Everyone who likes cricket should read the wisden, and perhaps some who don't, too.

[John Isles · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many cricket matches and tours were cancelled in 2020 that I expected the 2021 edition of Wisden, which among much else reports details of the previous year's games, to be much slimmer. Surprisingly, this wasn't the case; it still provided plenty of reading, though inevitably there was less in it that I found to be of interest. 2022's volume should be much better.

[Philippe Hyndrikx · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ultimate benchmark, seek no further if looping for the best writing on cricket