The Cricket category has 40 audiobooks on Listento.it, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 14 ratings. The most-rated is No Spin.
No Spin
Summary
Everyone knows the story, or thinks they do. The leg-spinner who rewrote the record books. One of Wisden's five cricketers of the 20th century. A sporting idol across the globe. A magnet for the tabloids. But the millions of words written and spoken about Shane Warne since his explosive arrival on the Test cricket scene in 1992 have only scratched the surface. The real story has remained untold. In No Spin, Shane sets the record straight. From his extraordinary family history to his childhood as a budding Aussie Rules footballer in suburban Melbourne. From the legendary 'Gatting ball' to his history-making 700th Test wicket. From the controversy surrounding the diuretic pill in South Africa to his high-profile relationship with Hollywood star Elizabeth Hurley. Nothing is off limits, and Shane tackles it all with his trademark directness and humour. These days an incisive, charismatic TV commentator and analyst, the 'Sultan of Spin' also lets us in on the mysterious art of leg-spin bowling, revealing the secrets of some of his deadliest deliveries. As Shane says, 'Few batsmen, if any, truly know what I do.' A sporting great, a celebrity, a family man and a self-confessed regular Aussie bloke from the suburbs, in No Spin Shane offers a compelling insight into how a boy from Black Rock changed the face of cricket forever.
©2018 Shane Warne (P)2018 Penguin Random House Australia
Playing It My Way
Summary
The autobiography of the highest scoring batsman of all time. The greatest run-scorer in the history of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar retired in 2013 after an astonishing 24 years at the top. The most celebrated Indian cricketer of all time, he received the Bharat Ratna Award - India's highest civilian honour - on the day of his retirement. Now Sachin Tendulkar tells his own remarkable story - from his first Test cap at the age of 16 to his 100th international century and the emotional final farewell that brought his country to a standstill. When a boisterous Mumbai youngster's excess energies were channelled into cricket, the result was record-breaking schoolboy batting exploits that launched the career of a cricketing phenomenon. Before long Sachin Tendulkar was the cornerstone of India's batting line-up, his every move watched by a cricket-mad nation's devoted followers. Never has a cricketer been burdened with so many expectations; never has a cricketer performed at such a high level for so long and with such style - scoring more runs and making more centuries than any other player, in both Tests and one-day games. And perhaps only one cricketer could have brought together a shocked nation by defiantly scoring a Test century shortly after terrorist attacks rocked Mumbai. His many achievements with India include winning the World Cup and topping the world Test rankings. Yet he has also known his fair share of frustration and failure - from injuries and early World Cup exits to stinging criticism from the press, especially during his unhappy tenure as captain.Despite his celebrity status, Sachin Tendulkar has always remained a very private man, devoted to his family and his country. Now, for the first time, he provides a fascinating insight into his personal life and gives a frank and revealing account of a sporting life like no other.
©2014 Sachin Tendulkar (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton
On Fire
Summary
Early evening on Sunday 14th July 2019. Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Something had just happened in the sport of cricket that had never happened before: England had won the Cricket World Cup for the very first time since the tournament's inception in 1975.
At the epicentre of England's historic triumph was Ben Stokes, the talismanic all-rounder with an insatiable appetite for The Big Occasion. He contributed an absolutely critical 84 runs off 98 balls when England batted, a seemingly nerveless innings of discipline and maturity. Thrillingly, it was enough to tie the scores at 241 runs each, so the match reverted to a Super Over - just six balls for each side to bat in the ultimate in sporting sudden death. Stokes and his batting partner, Jos Buttler, saw England to 15 runs off their over. When it was finally confirmed that Martin Guptill had been run out off the very last ball of New Zealand's Super Over with the scores once again level, England had astonishingly won on the boundary count-back, and the nation could finally breathe again.
Early evening on Sunday 25th August 2019. A sun-drenched Headingley in Leeds. Having been bowled out for just 67 earlier in the Third Test, England were facing the prospect of failing to regain the Ashes. In their second innings England were still 73 runs short of victory with a solitary wicket remaining. Australia were near certainties to retain the Ashes there and then. Cue one of the most amazing innings ever witnessed as Ben Stokes thrashed the Australian bowlers to all corners of the ground, in the process scoring 135 not out, driving England to a barely believable one-wicket victory and keeping the series very much alive. The nation took another breath.
In his brand-new book, Ben Stokes tells the story of England's electrifying first ever Cricket World Cup triumph as well as this summer's momentous Ashes Test series. It is the ultimate insider's account of the most nerve-shredding but riveting three-and-a-half months in English cricket history.
©2019 Ben Stokes (P)2019 Headline Publishing Group
Harold Larwood
Summary
Harold Larwood is an England cricketing legend. During the MCC’s notorious 1932–3 Ashes tour of Australia, his ‘Bodyline’ bowling left Australia’s batsmen bruised and battered, halved the batting average of the great Don Bradman – and gave England a 4–1 series victory. But the diplomatic row that followed brought Anglo-Australian relations to the brink of collapse. Larwood was used as a scapegoat by the MCC, which demanded he apologise for bowling Bodyline. Arguing that he had simply obeyed the instructions of his captain, Douglas Jardine, Larwood refused. He never played for England again. The Bodyline saga has been told before, but Larwood’s story has not. Using materials provided by the fast bowler’s family, Duncan Hamilton has created an intimate and compelling portrait of Larwood’s life: from his mining village upbringing, through the trauma of 1932–3 and its bitter aftermath, to his emigration to Australia, where he and his family found happiness. A moving recreation of the triumph, betrayal and redemption of a working-class hero, Harold Larwood will enthral not only cricket fans, but all those who relish biographical writing of the highest quality.
©2009 Quercus Publishing PLC (P)2010 Quercus Publishing PLC
Fatty Batter
Summary
Fatty Batter is the story of one man's lifelong obsession with cricket. From his earliest awkward days as a fat schoolboy, to his years running a team of dysfunctional inadequates, cricket has offered Michael Simkins a shelter from life's irksome realities and a place in which to quietly dream.That place is a peculiarly English arcadia of occasional wondrous beauty, forests of comforting statistics, and the endless life-affirming rituals of defeat, humiliation, and disappointment - the perfect net practise for life.
©2007 Michael Simkins (P)2008 Soundings
Jimmy Anderson: Bowl. Sleep. Repeat.
Summary
Ever wondered what it's like playing Test Cricket? What really goes on tour and beyond the boundary rope? Here, for the first time, the world of a pro cricketer is revealed, and the man pulling back the dressing room curtains is one of England's greatest ever cricketers: James 'Jimmy' Anderson. 565 Test Wickets and counting. Written with Felix White - musician, cricket enthusiast and Anderson's co-host on BBC Five Live's phenomenally popular podcast Tailenders - Jimmy invites us all into his world of cricket. Full of test-match sized stories and 20/20 anecdotes, this book contains everything you've dreamed of asking a top cricketer. And Jimmy provides the answers and insights into this world on and off the pitch. We tackle the big questions. And, importantly, the small ones: Do cricketers really watch Countdown instead of the Test whilst waiting to bat? What are those conversations in the slip cordon? And what does he eat as a tailender?
©2019 Jimmy Anderson (P)2019 Octopus Publishing Group
Six Machine
Summary
Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Six Machine by Chris Gayle, read by Leroy Osei-Bonsu. 'If the ball's there, hit it. Don't worry about what might happen. Play for the glory. Play for the six.' Chris Gayle is the only man to have ever hit a six off the first ball of a Test match. But then producing the impossible is an everyday act for the West Indies legend: the first man to smash an international T20 century, the first to hit a World Cup 200, the fastest century in the history of the game. He has hit twice as many T20 sixes as any other man and scored two Test triple centuries. All this is delivered with cricket's biggest bat and an even bigger smile. Off the pitch, millions follow him on Instagram and Twitter to catch a glimpse of a globe-trotting life spent in nightclubs as much as nets, hot-tubs as often as helmets and pads. He plays late, parties later, demolishes a king-size pile of pancakes and then strolls out to mangle another hapless bowling attack.But do we really know him? Do we know what took a shy, skinny kid from a cramped tin-roofed shack in the dusty back streets of Kingston, sharing a bed with three brothers and stealing empty bottles to buy food, to the very top of the cricket world - without losing himself along the way? Outrageous and utterly original, this unputdowneable memoir will leave you reeling. Welcome to the world of the Six Machine.
©2016 Chris Gayle (P)2016 Penguin Random House UK
The Dhoni Touch
Summary
For more than a decade, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has captivated the world of cricket and more than a billion Indians with his incredible ingenuity as captain, wicketkeeper, and batsman. Bharat Sundaresan tracks down the cricketer's closest friends in Ranchi and artfully presents the different shades of Dhoni - the Ranchi boy, the fauji, the diplomat, Chennai's beloved Thala, the wicketkeeping Pythagoras - and lays bare the man underneath. He discovers a certain je ne sais quoi about the man who has a magical ability to transform and elevate everything that comes into his orbit - the Dhoni touch. Funny, candid, and peppered with delicious anecdotes, The Dhoni Touch reveals an ordinary man living an extraordinary life.
©2018 Bharat Sundaresan (P)2020 Random House Audio
An Evening with Blowers
Summary
Henry Blofeld is one of the greatest characters in cricket. For nearly thirty years his distinctive rich, plummy voice and his famous expression 'My dear old thing!' have delighted the millions of listeners to BBC Radio's Test Match Special. In his entertaining one-man show An Evening with Blowers, Henry takes his audience on a hilarious journey from his eccentric childhood in Norfolk to his schooldays as a prolific batsman at Eton and his successful career as an international cricket writer and broadcaster. He tells many colourful anecdotes about the game of cricket and his BBC colleagues including John Arlott and Brian Johnston and reveals what really happened when the Queen presented the TMS team with a special cake!
©2002 Henry Blofeld (P)2002 BarryMour Productions
Cricketing Tales from the Dressing Room
Summary
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew introduces a new collection of anecdotes and reflections from some of the best-loved characters of international cricket: Jack Russell, Derek Pringle, Graham Gooche, Ian Botham, Derek Underwood, Geoff Lawson and many more.
From the glory days when players regularly smoked 20 a day and fended off over-eager fans to the dressing room pranks and pedalo rides of more recent years. Some of the most colourful stars of the game recall the highs and lows, the hilarious, embarrassing, and most memorable moments of test match cricket.
©2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks Ltd
Lord Hawke
Summary
Lord Hawke was captain of Cambridge University, Yorkshire, and England in a time when, as A.A. Thomson observed, "there were giants in the land". His era is now lost to us, shrouded by the fog of war and by economic and social revolutions that would beggar the Victorian imagination. That despite everything English cricket not only survives in its traditional form, but thrives, is in no small measure the enduring achievement of three men, three eminent Victorians who devoted the greater part of their lives to cricket, and who largely determined the form in which it has come down to later generations: W.G. Grace, Lord Harris, and Lord Hawke. Tradition has it that W.G. Grace was the ultimate exponent of the game, that Lord Harris was its foremost administrator, and that Lord Hawke was its great exporter. Of Martin Bladen Hawke, seventh Baron Hawke of Towton, Sir Pelham "Plum" Warner was to say "he was the Odysseus of cricket" and that "he was the first to preach the gospel of cricket throughout the Empire". Hawke was an indefatigable organizer and leader of tours to Australasia, North and South America, India and Ceylon, South Africa, and the West Indies. But the exportation of cricket to the dominions was the beginning, rather than the end of his unique contribution to English cricket. The true object of his life’s work was the construction and consolidation of an indestructible cricketing institution; the Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Hawke first captained Yorkshire in the Championship in 1883. Although he nominally retained the captaincy until he formally resigned in favour of E.J. Radcliffe in November 1910, he played his last county match at the end of the 1909 season. The profit and loss account of the Yorkshire captaincy in the serious business of county cricket between 1883 and 1909 tells its own story. Yorkshire won the Championship eight times under Hawke’s stewardship. He was also the man who sacked Bobby Peel, the greatest left-arm bowler of his era, and infamously declaimed "Pray God, no professional shall ever captain England", sentiments which very nearly damned him forever. A man of contradictions, strong convictions, more often than not his own worst enemy, this cricketing biography goes behind the myth of the man looking to paint a picture of one of cricket’s great men. Love or loathe him, Martin Bladen Hawke’s life was singular. Join the author on his voyage of discovery. Please note: This is the second edition of a book first published in 1990.
©2020 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip (P)2021 James P. Coldham writing as James Philip
150 Cricket Trivia Questions
Summary
What is Cricket and how did it come about? What and more importantly who is involved in this sport? The 150 trivia questions audiobook brings hours of entertainment and fun knowledge about this amazing game.
©2015 North Pacific Technology Group (P)2015 North Pacific Technology Group
What I Love About Cricket
Summary
What I Love About Cricket is the story of a summer when a ‘master’ cricket obsessive teaches his novice ‘pupil’ the wisdom of the game. Sandy Balfour is cast as the supposed master and his 16-year-old daughter’s new boyfriend is the reluctant pupil. This beginner’s guide to the infuriatingly perverse game of cricket is a love letter addressed both to those who utterly fail to understand it and to those who need reminding why they fell in love in the first place. What unfolds is wonderfully observed and very funny and as much about fathers and daughters, love and life, as it is about cricket.
©2009 Sandy Balfour (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
The Best of Blowers
Summary
Blowers will delight his many fans with this pick of the very best of his stories. In "My dear old thing!" cricket fans everywhere will recognise Henry Blofeld's rich, plummy voice and sharp wit from BBC's Test Match Special. Now enjoy the very best of Blowers in this blockbusting collection, including jokes, anecdotes, and stories from a life immersed in cricket.
©2007 Henry Blofeld (P)2007 Barn Productions
Sachin
Summary
At the young age of 17, Sachin Tendulkar earned the title of being the second youngest man to score 100 runs in international cricket. Sachin: The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman is an audiobook that traces the life and achievements of this individual, who is hailed as being the finest batsman in the world. He has made more than 33,000 runs in international cricket, which is the highest number of runs to be scored by any cricketer. He also has a total of 100 international centuries in his kitty as well. The author of this audiobook provides a stunning account of the life of the best sportsperson in the world. The audiobook gives its listeners insight into the passion that Sachin had for the game, right from the time when he was very young, right till the time he stepped into superstardom. Sachin: The Story of the World's Greatest Batsman gives you details concerning Sachin's life, which you have never known before. The audiobook also highlights the matches that changed the course of Sachin Tendulkar's career, making him what he is today. Key Features: This audiobook gives you details concerning the life of Sachin Tendulkar. Listeners are given an actual reconstruction of the matches that shaped Sachin's career.
©2012 Gulu Ezekiel (P)2019 Random House Audio
An Evening with Dickie Bird
Summary
Dickie Bird is not only the world's most famous cricket umpire, he is also one of the most entertaining public speakers of our time. Here are anecdotes about the game he loves so much and has served so well, with some fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of cricket around the world over the past forty years. The engaging character of the man, the down-to-earth wit of a great Yorkshireman and his outstanding gifts as a storyteller make this a recording to treasure.
©1998 Dickie Bird (P)1998 BarryMour Productions
The Shorter Wisden 2020
Summary
Bloomsbury presents The Shorter Wisden 2020, edited by Lawrence Booth and read by David Thorpe, with Lawrence Booth and Terry Blake. The most famous sports book in the world, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack has been published every year since 1864. The selected writings from the 157th edition contained in this audiobook offer trenchant opinion, compelling features and an authoritative voice on the worldwide game. The Shorter Wisden is a compelling distillation of what's best in its bigger brother – and the 2020 edition of Wisden is crammed, as ever, with the best writing in the game. Wisden's audio version includes the influential Notes by the Editor and all the front-of-book articles. In an age of snap judgments, Wisden’s authority and integrity are more important than ever. Yet again this year’s edition is truly a 'must-have' for every cricket fan. In essence, The Shorter Wisden is a glass of the finest champagne rather than the whole bottle.
©2020 John Wisden (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
KP: The Autobiography
Summary
The fascinating life story of professional cricketer Kevin Pietersen, MBE, from his childhood in South Africa to his recent experiences as one of the leading lights in the world of international cricket.
©2014 Kevin Pietersen (P)2014 Hachette Audio UK
On the Boards with Blowers
Summary
Old friends and Test Match Special colleagues, Henry Blofeld and Peter Baxter had many outrageous tales of life in and around the radio cricket commentary boxes of the world. So in 2012, the two embarked on a tour that saw them take their hilarious stories onto the stage in a two-man show. They soon found themselves treading the boards in the West End, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and travelling as far afield as Australia. The extraordinary characters who inhabited that commentary box - quite apart from the remarkable Blowers himself - featured prominently. There was the ebullience of Brian Johnston; the enormous thirst of John Arlott; the eternal scattiness of Christopher Martin-Jenkins; the mischief of Jonathan Agnew and a host of other walk-on parts. On the Boards with Blowers looks behind the scenes of creating this unique show, as well as regaling listeners with many of the side-splitting tales themselves. It is a book to be enjoyed by cricket fans and the general public alike.
©2019 Peter Baxter (P)2020 Peter Baxter
Over and Out
Summary
The autobiography of cricket broadcasting legend Henry Blofeld. Henry Blofeld's voice is the sound of the summer to thousands of cricket lovers all over the world, and this autobiographical audiobook is a celebration of his career commentating on the sport he loves. Henry has been a summariser on Test Match Special for over 40 years, and cricket fans all over the world adore him. In this book he relives his favourite moments in the sport and shares behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories told in his unique style.
©2017 Henry Blofeld (P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton