A Beautiful Game: My love affair with cricket

**Cross Sports Book Awards Cricket Book of the Year

Winner of the MCC/Cricket Society’s Book of the Year Award 2017**

My father and I mowed a narrow strip of grass just beyond the brow of a small tier that hid the white lines we had painted with emulsion as batting and bowling creases. Then I rolled the strip with the barrel of the lawnmower until it appeared flat enough for play. I was nine years old and the game of bat and ball had stolen my heart.

Mark Nicholas, the face of Channel 5's Cricket on Five and anchor for Channel 9's Test commentary team in Australia, has a unique knowledge and perspective on the world of cricket.

As both a former player and now a professional observer and commentator on the game, he knows all the key figures of the sport and has witnessed first-hand some of cricket's greatest moments. His book is a personal account of the game as he's seen and experienced it across the globe.

From epic test matches and titans of the game like Lara, Warne and Tendulkar, to his own childhood love for the sport, Mark gives us his informed, personal and fascinating views on cricket - the world's other beautiful game.

'This book brings out Mark's wonderful knowledge and infectious passion for cricket - two of the things that make listening to him and reading him so enjoyable.' – Shane Warne

'A Beautiful Game is a page turner and there can be no higher praise than that. Mark's craft as a writer, with his sharp eye for detail and keen sense of humour, shines throughout.' – Sir Michael Parkinson