Ah, remember Neville Cardus? What a brilliant writer. John Arlott was the people’s cricket poet, and because I’m a girlie, I have to praise Margaret Hughs, who died earlier this year, and Chloe Saltau.
What I really admire are the writers who are able to express both the grace and the beauty of the game in their literary skills, who capture the vigour or despondency, paint a picture with words. Arlott was a master.
I’ve had to do a fair bit of cricket writing myself over the years - getting a game report online as quick as poss was a nightmare for me, hard graft. It’s all so easy to fall into those dreaded clichés about “gifted strokeplay” or “masterful shots”.
I also used to love Amit Varma’s 23 Yards on cricinfo because the articles made you think. And were fun.
Oh, and nearly forgot, the best of all is Will Luke ![]()


