The Nature of Cricket Book Review

I am a firm believer that there is a symbiosis between cricket in the United Kingdom and the countryside. The highest levels of the game may be gravitating towards the cities but at its heart cricket is a sport of the countryside and there very much remains a mental image of village cricket and the bucolic delights that are part and parcel of a large swathe of the club game. Understandably, cricket and the countryside also encompasses cricket and the natural world and author Graham Coster has written a delightful tome that explores the link between the sport and its relationship with nature.  

   Coster begins the book with something of a lament, a sadness at how English cricket’s county grounds have lost much of their link with nature, particularly those that have changed from grounds to stadiums (a subtle, yet very real difference) in a bid to stack em high. Similarly, there are concerns that present links, such as the grass banks and deck chairs at Hove’s Cromwell Road End, may soon disappear in redevelopments that have taken over grounds such as Canterbury and Bristol.

   The book itself is divided down into sections on various aspects of nature (trees, flora and fauna and animals for instance) and this is where the book begins to move through the gears. In the chapter on ‘Trees’ Coster eloquently highlights how some grounds (such as Arundel) seem to be enveloped in trees and are essentially grounds located in clearings amongst the arboreal surrounds. Coster provides a couple of delightful descriptions of such grounds that very much capture the intimate atmosphere of a sylvan dominated ground. 

   The chapters on flowers and fungi prove interesting in terms of how many species can be found inhabiting the outfield of various club grounds. The manicured, well tended nature of county grounds dictates that flowers are only to be found in the hanging basket, decorative kind but rural grounds tend to enjoy more of a synergy with their surroundings.

   Nevertheless, it is the chapters on mammals and birds that provoke the most interest, such is cricket’s link with its many visitors; an occurrence arguably strengthened after many people re-discovered the joy and benefits of animals and birds during the various COVID instigated lockdowns. Thus, the detail of deer at Bushy Park in Teddington and ponies at various New Forest grounds prove pleasing although not all animal interventions are welcome as the chapter begins with stories of badgers and wild boar proving particularly disruptive. Similarly pleasing are the soaring Red Kites which are now a familiar feature to anyone who has visited the beautiful Sir Paul Getty Ground at Wormsley along with the resident sheep on the slopes of the Chilterns that fomr a background behind the bijoux thatched scoring hut. Coster also includes a glorious photograph of Hampshire’s old Northlands Road ground where Clouded Yellow butterflies could be seen drifting around the outfield.

   As with all stellar books on cricket there are nuggets of information which proved interesting, such as how the state of the tide in St Helen’s Bay affects whether a captain decides to bat or bowl and the story of a Slovenian man who, after becoming interested in cricket whilst visiting England in the 1970’s, returned to his native land and has helped build one of the most spellbinding grounds one can imagine. Coster also raises an interesting point regarding the slow drift of a large section of the cricket season into the evening and requiring the intervention of floodlights in a time when climate change and energy usage are paramount in peoples’ thoughts.

   Almost inevitably for a tome focusing on cricket’s relationship with nature there are a fine selection of photographs from various grounds that one cannot help but enjoy, particularly if one has visited these grounds and it is these that really catch the eye and live in the memory. Thus, one can personally enjoy and reminisce on visits to locations such as Abinger Hammer in the Surrey Hills, The Parks in Oxford, the seaside influenced County Ground at Hove and the rhododendrons in full bloom at Tunbridge Wells. Similarly, pictures from the likes of Fitzherbert Park in New Zealand, Chignall Cricket Club in Essex, the now disappeared Recreation Ground in Hastings, Coldharbour, the stunning mountain dominated Queenstown Oval, cricket in the Cotswolds at Moreton-in-Marsh and the famous Valley of the Rocks in north Devon prove particularly enjoyable.

   Indeed, one is perhaps a little disappointed that there are not more pictorial examples, particularly of animals and their interventions on cricket matches, almost akin to Wisden’s Index of Unusual Occurrences, and perhaps there is a little more text than one was expecting but the text does discuss various aspects that are not immediately obvious when one begins reading the book. And such a development shouldn’t detract from a book that looks at cricket from a different angle, highlights its intrinsic link with the natural world and proves soothing amid the concrete dominated world of stadium cricket. After society’s re-discovery of the natural world in COVID induced lockdowns the book is arguably being released at a timely juncture.

N.B.: the lower picture on page 97, that of the New Forest Pony, was taken by yours truly.