This is Cricket: In the Spirit of the Game

(Hardback)

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Description

Cricket has been played for over two hundred years and in some ways remains largely unchanged. It is this timelessness, and the elegant style and spirit in which the game is conducted, which is celebrated in Cricket.

The book brings together such idyllic settings as Sir Paul Getty's Ground in Buckinghamshire, UK, surrounded by rolling countryside and the Otago cricket ground in New Zealand set against a backdrop of mountains bathed in afternoon light, as well as the sport's most hallowed pitches, including Lords (opened by Thomas Lord in 1814) and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which hosted the first ever test match in 1877.

Readers will be taken on a journey to the Caribbean where the fast bowling attack of the West Indies reigned in the 1970s and to India where cricket soared to new heights in the 1980s. From Shane Warne's ball of the century at Old Trafford in 1993 to Ben Stokes's heroics at Headingly in 2019, Cricket captures many of the game's most extraordinary events and players. The stunning images of on field action as well as candid dressing room moments, some published here for the first time, are taken by the most respected photographers in sport including Patrick Eagar, Bob Thomas, and Adrian Murrell.

Featuring bucolic village greens, charming pavilions, champagne-drenched dressing rooms, endearing team portraits, extraordinary catches, devastating bowling, heroic batting, stylish sweaters and ridiculous fancy dress, this book illustrates why cricket is the second most popular sport in the world and why it is truly loved by so many.

Reviews

I couldnt tear myself away. I have seen plenty of collections of cricket photography before.This is Cricket: In the Spirit of the Gamewas the first that pricked my eyes with tearsthis glorious 368-page compendium, its spreads the size of a modest paving slab, was almost too rich, a feast of images that threatened to overwhelm the senses.To list what I saw does not do the experience any justice: Clive Lloyd in the nets in his salmon-pink World Series gear; Kapil Dev and Mohinder Amarnath laughing on the Lords balcony; Jan Brittin smashing a square cut to the boundary. Some are famous pictures youve ached to have a copy of Botham with his cigar, Buttler running out Guptill. Many capture moments youll recognise, in ways you dont; and plenty more are simply photographs from the cricketing landscape that youve never seen. All come screaming off the page. After months of isolation, they transported me to unfamiliar times and places, made me weep with pleasure over games played before I was born. The book is irresistible a tactile treat I keep coming back to, carefully turning its luxuriant pages for a glimpse of whites, a whiff of grass. I notice, with delight, how magnificent the books many women look; how, under the lens, their power and art achieve parity with their male peers. I find myself drawn to the crowd scenes, appreciating, for the first time, the marvel of the mass spectator experience, from Antigua to Pune to the MCG. Several times I gasped at a broken-armed Paul Terry trying to dig out a Joel Garner yorker, for instance or laughed out loud. And dammit, it felt goodTest and county grounds, village greens, the Oval Maidan, and more, bleed their green and pleasant land to the very edges of the page. And as I gaze at them, I am awash with gratitude. Not just to the photographers who took these pictures, or author Daniel Melamud for curating them in a way that can give me so many feels. But to the sport I love, simply for existing. The Wisden Book of the Year isThis is Cricket. And nostalgics are going to love it.
Emma John,Wisden

A gorgeous new release from Rizzoli containing photographs of the game in panorama, from village greens in England to the Nehru Stadium in India and much besides. Make room for this one next to your Wisdens.
The New Criterion

This Is Cricket: In the Spirit of the Gameby Daniel Melamud is a cricket/art book published in New York and one that requires quite a big coffee table to accommodate it. Inside are hundreds of photographs, some well-known classics, others fresh and unfamiliar. All delightfully portray a cricketing landscape that has temporarily gone missing.Vic Marks,The Guardian

Jon Hotten,Wisden Cricket Monthlysreviews editor picks out his favourite books of the year: Daniel MelamudsThis Is Cricket(Rizzoli) is a coffee-table collection of beautifully reproduced photographs of cricket and cricketers from across the world, just what you need for those deep midwinter nights.Wisden Cricket Monthly

Cricket style will help you break your sweatpants habit.Wall Street Journal

"the appeal of this distant cousin to American baseballwhite outfits, green lawns, team camaraderieendures, as evidenced by the picturesque, action-filled photographs in Daniel Melamuds new book,This Is Cricket. Shots include several from Patrick Eagar'a master if not the master of the lens and a genius at catching the moment,' writes former England captain David Gower in the foreword to the bookand chronicle all aspects of the sport: 'A sponsors tent, a fabulous cold buffet, potent glasses of Pimms and the afternoon took care of itself,' Gower recalls of a day spent on and (mostly) off the field due to intermittent rain. He adds, 'If these many gorgeous images dont bring a smile to your face, Im afraid youre probably not human.'"
Air Mail

"Featuring over 300 jaw dropping images, expertly written text, and a foreword from the iconic English cricket commentator David Gower,This Is Cricketpays homage to the eternal elegance of cricketits also the perfect entry for anyone who is just starting to take a shine to this classic sport."
Scott Frederick,DeFY New York

"Rizzolis new hardcover bookThis Is Cricketcelebrates the timeless game, from the best and most stylish players to the hallowed grounds on which its played. Why we want it: maybe this is how we finally learn the rules of cricket."
UrbanDaddy

Author Bio

Daniel Melamud is a writer, editor, and photographer, as well as a lifelong cricket enthusiast, who captained his elementary school cricket team to a comprehensive defeat at Lords.