In the new issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly, out March 5, we reveal the 50 best uncapped players in the county game, talk to some of those who came out on top, and assess their chances of breaking into the Test team ahead of a critical 18 months for English cricket.
We reveal the 50 best uncapped players in the county game, talk to some of those who came out on top, and assess their chances of breaking into the Test team ahead of a critical 18 months for English cricket.
We go around the counties ahead of the new season, speaking to Matt Prior about the crisis at Sussex after the club was hit with a raft of penalties, consider who will win the Championship, and road-test some of the best new bats on the market in our annual WCM Bat Test.
Elsewhere, Daniel Gallan interviews South African star Aidan Markram about his rise, fall and resurgence, Phil Walker revisits the week it all clicked for Nasser Hussain, Raf Nicholson pays tribute to Clare Connor after her 18 years at the ECB, and Lawrence Booth dissects the toxic horror-show that is India-Pakistan.
This issue’s WCM Essay comes from Archie Kalyana, who spent a week in the inner sanctum of the Mumbai Indians Women’s team, while WPL-winner Lauren Bell unpacks her year to date as our guest diarist, and Michael Carberry opens up about the tribulations and triumphs of his career.
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"The physics shouldn’t work. The transposal of ‘the base’ that all the coaches talk about. The absurd speed that the bat comes through. And yet at the point of contact, for that sublimely still, split second, it all adds up. There are phenoms, freaks, outliers, prodigies. Sport can’t getenough of them. And then there is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi from Bihar,India, aged 14 and three-quarters."
Phil Walker on an Indian phenomenon, primed to shake up global sport
"I miss Shane Warne every day. He was one of the best captains I played under, always in my corner. Sometimes I struggled to get that from coaches and captains – I felt like I had to kick the door off its hinges. It’s a tough job, batting, and it’s important to feel the backing of your team and your captain and that’s what Shane Warne offered me."
Michael Carberry on the trials and tribulations of his career
"The ECB’s investment in domestic women’s cricket has been transformative, increasing the number of girls’ and women’s club teams by 25 per cent in 2024 alone, totalling 1,000 new teams in 12 months. In theory, that should have catalysed the development of players ready to make that step up. Yet in streamlining the pathway, some elements of the past – particularly the competitive edge gained from playing in boys’ teams – has been overlooked."
Katya Witney considers where all the female batters have gone
"Isolated moments of sporting romance are all very neat, but they cannot outweigh the towering cynicism of cricket’s overall product. The irony is that, by any objective measure, cricket ought to be perfectly positioned to become the most competitive of global sports. At a time when FIFA threatens over-reach with its 48-team football World Cup, the T20 format offers an irresistibly accessible template."
Andrew Miller on the Twenty20 World Cup
"Had Pakistan carried out their threat, they would have hurt not just cricket’s global ecosystem, inviting opprobrium from far beyond the old lines of Partition, but damaged their own financial well-being too."
Lawrence Booth on a once great rivalry turned toxic
"The strangest thing, he says, is that it never happened like that again. He would replicate the same prep – the TV in the middle of the room, the half a glass of wine, the same curry from room service – but it never clicked like it clicked at Edgbaston in 1997. His fate was not to become the player who we saw in mirage for two inexplicable, magical days; and yet without the validation of that innings, the real story of Nasser Hussain – leader, trailblazer – would almost certainly have never materialised."
In his ‘12 innings that explain the Ashes’ series, Phil Walker looks back on the week it all clicked for Nasser Hussain
"Since its inception in 2023, the WPL has propelled unknown names into the echelons of stardom. Following the Indian women’s historic ODI World Cup win and the staggering 185 million viewers on Jiosta platforms, 92 million on connected TV devices, the WPL has cemented its place as a ‘premium property’ valued at $148 million. The message is clear: the women’s game has arrived."
Archie Kalyana goes inside the Mumbai Indians Women’s operation
"I was in a dark place. I was angry, mostly with myself. I knew I was better than what I was producing. I felt like I was letting a lot of people down."
Aiden Markram opens up to Dan Gallan
"County cricket is so important to so many people and needs to be protected and looked after, because the game is moving forward at a rate of knots. If we’re not careful, it’s going to be left behind."
Matt Prior on the crisis at Sussex and its impact on the county game
"It is mind-boggling to think that back in 2008 when she arrived in post, her in-tray consisted of everything from growing girls’ cricket for five-year-olds to ensuring that England Women would win the World Cup. Even more mind-boggling is that she delivered on both counts."
Raf Nicholson salutes the immense legacy left by Clare Connor, who is leaving the ECB after 18 years
"By the end of the tournament I was even getting recognised in the nail salon!"
Lauren Bell’s weird month
You can order the new edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly, digital or print version, here.
