John Arlott was one of the great cricket writers and broadcasters and while this isn't his greatest work; more a series of short biographies written over the years, a mix of Hampshire players, some of which were new to me, other English players and a smattering of international cricketers.

In Arlott's hands, all his subjects are the finest in the world, even if bald statistics suggest otherwise. For those that are the best, like Barry Richards, Arlott almost undersells Richards' talent as a batsman, but overall few cricketers would have held back from reading what Arlott had to say about them. ( )