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The Art of Batting

The Craft of Cricket’s Greatest Run Scorers

The Art of Batting cover

The Art of Batting

The Craft of Cricket’s Greatest Run Scorers

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Pre-order. Available Jul 08 2025
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Description

'a wonderful tale' – David 'Bumble' Lloyd

'one of cricket's most distinctive writers' – Andy Zaltzman

THIS GROUND-BREAKING BOOK REVEALS THE SCIENCE, SKILL AND CULTURE THAT MADE THE 50 GREATEST BATTERS OF ALL TIME.

Most batters just do their best, yet the top players create art. It is physically impossible to face an 80mph delivery and track it with your eyes, yet the greatest batters do more than just watch the ball, they can see into the future.

This book is about the batters who see what mortals don't: Javed Miandad purposefully making errors to manipulate the field; Sachin Tendulkar digging up a pitch to take on Warne; Shivnarine Chanderpaul practising non-stop on a beach until he mastered his technique; and Joe Root playing against spin as a result of three random events. Others, such as Smith, Pietersen and Richards, carried on the work of a man 100 years before their time, meanwhile Ranji changed cricket with a bucket.

Their methods and stories are different, but their currency is the same: runs. Through interviews with cricketing greats such as David 'Bumble' Lloyd, Nasser Hussain, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara, this book shows you the science, skill and culture that made the 50 greatest batters of all time – and, ultimately, how they conquered leather with willow.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Evolution
2. Eyes
3. Rapid
4. Testless
5. High front elbow
6. Rag
7. Run
8. Attack
9. Peak
10. Average
11. Taxed
12. Motivation
13. Machiavelli
14. The list
15. The ball

The top 50
Bibliography
Image credits
Acknowledgements
Index

Product details

Published Jul 08 2025
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781399416542
Imprint Bloomsbury Sport
Illustrations Integrated black and white images throughout
Dimensions 9 x 6 inches
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Jarrod Kimber

Jarrod Kimber is a Melbournian writer, commentator…

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