The Nature Of Cricket : A Natural History Of The Cricket Ground

Everyone’s ideal cricket ground is a village field, fringed by trees, the outfield dappled with clovers and buttercups, swallows flitting above… But what of all the other wildlife associated with this most natural of sports?

At the Oval, commentators remark on the resident foxes as often as the traditional pigeons. At Teddington Town CC matches are frequently interrupted by deer; at Lyndhurst by wild ponies. At Kirkby Lonsdale CC, the local fungus group found 20 species of waxcap on the outfield. Hoopoes, spectacular birds from southern Europe, favour cricket grounds on their rare migrations to the UK.

This unique and delightful book explores the relationship between cricket grounds and the natural world, from wildlife records to the Edwardian cricket writings of Edmund Blunden, and in many remarkable photos.