A pocket handbook offering the lowdown on men and women county cricketers for 2026 is reviewed by Eric Brown…
BY ERIC BROWN
If the county cricket season starts much earlier, it might impinge on Christmas holidays instead of Easter egg hunts.
This season’s county competition began on its earliest-ever date of April 3 as it shunts ever forward in the calendar to avoid clashing with the Great God Hundred in July and August.
Any more mission creep could ultimately see players and spectators deserting their families for Boxing Day cricket. Imagine the new dress code: Anoraks, scarves, thermal underwear, woolly hats. And that’s just the players!
Whenever it starts, it wouldn’t be the cricket season without the latest issue of The Cricketers’ Who’s Who. This invaluable little book’s 47th edition contains all the information you need to know about male and female county cricketers.
The essential guide to the English cricket season, The Cricketers’ Who’s Who 2026, is out now
— Who's Who Cricket (@CWW_Official) April 3, 2026
Including everything you need to know about every single player from all 18 counties and includes an in-depth women’s section
Foreword by @AnnieChave
Buy: https://t.co/KBonXMKYOt pic.twitter.com/zbw9vsbsBu
Around 500 players from the 18 county men’s teams answered questionnaires for potted biographies sprinkled with intriguing facts.
Who would have suspected Sussex-based England candidate James Coles has type 1 diabetes, and the one thing he wants to do before he dies is catch a tuna?
Who would have guessed that the strangest item to end up in the kitbag of Kent’s Ben Compton is… an armadillo?
Surrey’s Dan Worrall, in response to a request for the most surprising personal fact, admitted to once burning a house down in Thailand with fireworks.
For the most amusing and original reply, I’d go for Glamorgan’s former England spinner Mason Crane. Asked which film he could watch over and over, he responded: Groundhog Day.
If you love trivia and statistics, diving into the book will fill those long hours sloshing around county grounds during rain breaks when you fervently wish the Hundred is dumped and County Cricket returns to peak summer months.
On the more serious side, there are detailed career statistics for each player with a roundup of the 2025 season, including tables and averages.
There’s an in-depth women’s section and fixtures for England men’s and women’s teams.
The foreword is written by Annie Chave, editor of the quarterly County Cricket Matters. Invaluable for travelling or armchair cricket fans.
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