What do you think?
Rate this book
The Wit of Cricket
You've enjoyed the CDs, now enjoy The Wit of Cricket published as a book for the first time. Now you can read not only the jokes, anecdotes and hilarious stories of cricket's all-time great personalities—Dickie Bird, Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston, Fred Trueman, and Richie Benaud, but also the humor of modern legends—Shane Warne, Michael Atherton, Mike Selvey, Darren Gough, and many others. This book includes dozens of entertaining stories about England players such as Denis Compton, Len Hutton, and Ian Botham—not to mention broadcasting gaffes, sledging, short-sighted umpires, and the first male streaker at Lord's!
- GenresNonfictionJokes
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
11 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 26, 2020
Gentle fun read
February 25, 2022
An anthology of cricketing bon mots and funny stories collated by Barry Johnston, son of the late broadcaster Brian. None of them (of course) are new, but some I hadn't read previously. Good harmless fun but probably better recounted verbally than in print.
I won't spoil the fun by quoting the best bits, but John Arlott on a characteristically long innings by Geoff Boycott was memorable: "No man is an island, but he has batted as though he was a particularly long peninsula".
This kind of material is difficult to organise into a book without adding introductory statements like: "so-and-so was a very funny chap/right character", or "a hilarious incident occurred at the Notts v Kent game in 1957.......", which gets a little repetitive and is also sometimes the prelude to a story which is a bit of a clunker. And the padding provided by long quotations from that once-popular genre of amateur cricketers' accounts of their not-terribly-funny exploits on exotic tours is dull and usually irrelevant.
A final irritation for me was the inclusion (yet again) of the "legover" incident - no less than 7 pages devoted to a bit of on-air corpsing from the TMS team which was mildly funny at the time but has grown increasingly stale with repetition. The fact that the BBC devoted a half-hour commemorative article last year to the 30th anniversary of two middle-aged broadcasters sniggering over a fourth-form double entendre shows how far TMS has declined from its peak. Can we stop hearing about it now, please ?
A good undemanding holiday read for a cricket enthusiast.
I won't spoil the fun by quoting the best bits, but John Arlott on a characteristically long innings by Geoff Boycott was memorable: "No man is an island, but he has batted as though he was a particularly long peninsula".
This kind of material is difficult to organise into a book without adding introductory statements like: "so-and-so was a very funny chap/right character", or "a hilarious incident occurred at the Notts v Kent game in 1957.......", which gets a little repetitive and is also sometimes the prelude to a story which is a bit of a clunker. And the padding provided by long quotations from that once-popular genre of amateur cricketers' accounts of their not-terribly-funny exploits on exotic tours is dull and usually irrelevant.
A final irritation for me was the inclusion (yet again) of the "legover" incident - no less than 7 pages devoted to a bit of on-air corpsing from the TMS team which was mildly funny at the time but has grown increasingly stale with repetition. The fact that the BBC devoted a half-hour commemorative article last year to the 30th anniversary of two middle-aged broadcasters sniggering over a fourth-form double entendre shows how far TMS has declined from its peak. Can we stop hearing about it now, please ?
A good undemanding holiday read for a cricket enthusiast.
January 20, 2020
I am passionate about cricket, currently watching the test series between England and South Africa on Sky TV. The Wit of Cricket is a little gem of a book, a bumper collection of the funniest anecdotes, jokes and stories from cricket's best-loved personalities that proves that cricket is a funny game - even when rain stops play! Popular stories from five of the game's all-time great characters - Richie Benaud, Dickie Bird, Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston (affectionately know as Johnners) and Fred Trueman, all interspersed with contributions from the likes of Michael Atherton, Andrew Flintoff, Darren Gough, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Warne and many others.
My favourite commentary gaff of all time comes from Johnners during the 1976 test match against the West Indies at The Oval. Michael Holding (West Indies) was bowling to Peter Willey (England) when Johnners said (and this is live on air): "Welcome to The Oval where the bowler's Holding, the Batsman's Willey!" It has gone down in folklore...
My favourite commentary gaff of all time comes from Johnners during the 1976 test match against the West Indies at The Oval. Michael Holding (West Indies) was bowling to Peter Willey (England) when Johnners said (and this is live on air): "Welcome to The Oval where the bowler's Holding, the Batsman's Willey!" It has gone down in folklore...
September 15, 2025
Ash picked this up for me in a charity shop. It's an easily digested tome with its selection of short anecdotes - most just a few paragraphs, some a few pages long - that draw you ever onwards o just read the next one.
Cricket wit, like the sport itself is something of an acquired taste. Fortunately the compiler Barry Johnston (son of the commentator Brian Johnston) avoided the cliched pun of the best man at a cricketer's wedding talking about how the groom had 'finally bowled his maiden over'.
The joke that made me laugh the most was one that was not about cricket, but was told to a cricketer, when asking a blind skydiver how he knew he was nearing the ground (ans: 'When guide dog's lead goes slack.')
Still a fun easy read of stories, some familiar some new.
Cricket wit, like the sport itself is something of an acquired taste. Fortunately the compiler Barry Johnston (son of the commentator Brian Johnston) avoided the cliched pun of the best man at a cricketer's wedding talking about how the groom had 'finally bowled his maiden over'.
The joke that made me laugh the most was one that was not about cricket, but was told to a cricketer, when asking a blind skydiver how he knew he was nearing the ground (ans: 'When guide dog's lead goes slack.')
Still a fun easy read of stories, some familiar some new.
May 20, 2019
Hilariously funny. The Botham take at the end brought back memories.
So many different people who have stories and anecdotes from years of cricket had me laughing out loud and having to explain myself to onlookers more than once.
Brilliant compilation of funny situations that only cricketing fans would really relate to, but stories that everyone with a sense of humour will find amusing.
Well worth the read
So many different people who have stories and anecdotes from years of cricket had me laughing out loud and having to explain myself to onlookers more than once.
Brilliant compilation of funny situations that only cricketing fans would really relate to, but stories that everyone with a sense of humour will find amusing.
Well worth the read
December 29, 2017
Disappointing. The best stories are already documented elesewhere, so not new to cricket fans, which is hardly surprising. It is easy to see why the rest of the items are not so well known as they don’t really warrant inclusion, being quite tedious. This book might be of interest to readers who haven’t read about the game very much.
January 23, 2022
One of the best book ever written in cricket. This is not only funny but also shows the other side of the cricketers, how they are on and off the field. For Indian cricket fans, sadly, there are not enough anecdotes but a fun read with accounts from legends like Benaud and Fred Trueman.
July 14, 2018
A nice book full of good stories
January 13, 2019
Wonderful anecdotes.
February 16, 2021
I enjoyed the modern anecdotes of sledging. Some of the older stories were amusing too but didn't quite capture my attention.
March 4, 2021
Excellent book
Loved the way the anecdotes were presented and I recommend it to all cricket lovers. I am a great fan of Brian Johnson
Loved the way the anecdotes were presented and I recommend it to all cricket lovers. I am a great fan of Brian Johnson
July 22, 2022
Hilarious anecdotes.
September 30, 2022
Very funny book.
January 6, 2024
Great book much better than the original one by Brian Johnston which has not aged well with time!
January 27, 2024
A little gem of very funny anecdotes. Perfect for cricket lovers.
August 31, 2024
Funny anecdotes and inside stories from the pre-internet Cricket Era. Enjoyed it.
December 25, 2024
Perfect for any cricket fan filled with jokes, anecdotes and legends.
November 12, 2025
British humour and cricket - what a combination sirjee !
October 20, 2014
A nice collection of cricket funnies, sledges and quotes.
However, some stories are quite drab (perhaps they sound funnier when spoken out in an inebriated atmosphere), and it's a little too England-centric.
A light, fun, read which should take no more than 3-4 hours. For this reason, I can recommend it to any cricket fan for a quick chuckle or two.
However, some stories are quite drab (perhaps they sound funnier when spoken out in an inebriated atmosphere), and it's a little too England-centric.
A light, fun, read which should take no more than 3-4 hours. For this reason, I can recommend it to any cricket fan for a quick chuckle or two.
June 8, 2014
Laugh riot! Grew up listening to TMS and people like Brian Johnston, Trevor Bailey, Henry Blofeld and the likes.
December 9, 2015
Little snippets of crickets tall tales. Quite good
September 2, 2016
Some great and funny stories here, as well as some that are a bit more mundane. Did find myself re-telling some of them to friends after reading them!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews