Lawrence Booth

Inside Sussex's financial hell and the impossible 'balancing act' Drizzly Hove in February does not immediately feel like ground zero for one of English cricket's most vexed debates. But the financial misadventures of Sussex have dictated otherwise.

🏏 Crisis at Sussex
❓"I don't understand why we've been deducted points"
💷 "We can't have luxuries"
🤹 And why the non-Test/Hundred clubs face a tough juggling act between off- and on-field success
PLUS: Can Sussex do a Leicester City and win the title?
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This year's Wisden cover - pic by Shaun Botterill.

Very much so, Bob: Wisden out soon.

Why McCullum must go after England's most disappointing Ashes tour LAWRENCE BOOTH IN SYDNEY: This was not England's worst Ashes tour among their many failures in Australia down the years. But it was arguably their most disappointing.

Why it's time for England and Brendon McCullum to go their separate ways
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MATT PRIOR: If I got out like this I'd be dug out by the dressing room It pains Matt Prior to say it, but say it he does. England's former wicketkeeper is ticking about the performance that left Ben Stokes's side two down in the Ashes with three to play.

Not sure I've ever interviewed an ex-England player so full of eloquent outrage as Matt Prior after Brisbane:
🏏England's players are "taking the mickey"
🏏Only two are up for the fight
🏏Time for Stokes to "call in his chips" on Crawley/Pope
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It's always fascinating to talk to John Buchanan, who coached Australia during their most successful era. He told me England have no choice but to stick to their approach, but likened them to F1 drivers not adapting to the road ahead
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Fair point, Tom. And thanks for the message.

Why England openers fail Down Under and secrets of the rare successes When Chris Broad suggests it will be 'tricky at the Gabba, because all eyes are going to be on him', it hardly needs explaining that he's talking about England's troubled opener Zak Crawley.

Zak Crawley's pair at Perth was a reminder that England openers often struggle in Australia. A couple of exceptions gave me their insights: Chris Broad, who averaged 78 here, and Mark Butcher, who hit the first ton by an England opener at the Gabba
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ROBIN SMITH: I twice came within minutes of finishing my life EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY LAWRENCE BOOTH: Robin Smith has had plenty to be grateful for, and much to test him. By his own admission, he is lucky still to be here.

🏏I met up in Perth with former England batsman Robin Smith. It was quite a chat, ranging from his views on Bazball (chill, guys) via his brush with death after drinking a bottle of vodka a day for 12 years, to the latest tragic twist in his personal life.
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There are just two days left to enter our annual writing competition. Submit your entry by the end of Friday for a chance to win a £250 voucher and see your work published in next year's almanack: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/...

Classic David v Goliath: How New Zealand Inflicted A Historic Clean-Sweep On India | Wisden Almanack New Zealand toured India in 2024/25 for three Test matches and lost the series 3-0. R Kaushik’s tour report as well as all three match reports appeared in the 2025 edition of Wisden Cricketer’s Almana...

Last year, New Zealand ripped up the formbook to inflict a first home series defeat on India since 2012-13. Read the series review and full Test reports from the current edition of Wisden Almanack by clicking on the image. www.wisden.com/series/india...

Joe Root: Our fearsome pace attack will go toe-to-toe with the Aussies LAWRENCE BOOTH: Never mind the fact that Australia has not been kind to Joe Root. He simply can't wait for the Ashes and thinks this will be England's best chance Down Under in years.

Always a pleasure to talk to Joe Root, who believes England - and their coterie of quicks - have their best chance for years of winning in Australia
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Revealed: The future of cricket - a non-wood bat INSIDE CRICKET: Cricket loves its laws and law 5.3.2. seems as certain as the sun rising in the east: 'The blade shall consist solely of wood.' But for how much longer?

🏏With cricket fretting over a "bat emergency", it was fascinating to hear about the emergence of a possible non-wood alternative...
🧑‍💻... not to mention plans to insert technology into the new bat to produce data on hitting power
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Thanks for having us, @gillis49.bsky.social! Really enjoyed it.

Dickie Bird transcended the sport of cricket, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH LAWRENCE BOOTH: Dickie Bird, who has died at the age of 92, broke the old rule that a sporting official should never be noticed.

RIP Dickie Bird, who has died at the age of 92

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Well, he was a pawn: as I say in the piece, the ECB had agreed that players who signed IPL contracts would stay until the end. And, sure, it could go wrong. But, again (as I write), England wins in Australia tend to need a bit of a gamble.

Yeah, I guess it depends if you give him some leeway for the way his season has been handled. You're talking about four innings there, two of them in a Test for which he was ill-prepared. But it's only my opinion, after watching him up close in NZ 😊

That was the argument when he was pitched in at No 3 in New Zealand, where he averaged 52.

As I say in the piece, his poor treatment by England this summer meant he went into that game completely out of nick. Since then, given a chance at No 4, he has looked as good as he did in New Zealand over the winter.

How Jacob Bethell proved he MUST be England's No 3 for the Ashes LAWRENCE BOOTH: With every blow of his pulsating 82-ball 110 against South Africa in Southampton, Jacob Bethell reinforced what should already have been obvious.

🏏Jacob Bethell's hundred on Sunday confirmed what many already suspected: he has the talent, and the temperament, to bat at No 3 in the Ashes 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 v 🇦🇺
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Ties That Bind: Around The North Of England In Nine Objects | Wisden Almanack Kit Harris used nine objects to chronicle nine English county cricket clubs. The piece originally appeared in the 2025 edition of the Wisden Almanack.

Rummaging in county cupboards brings all sorts of curiosities to light. Kit Harris goes around the north of England in nine objects, in the current edition of Wisden. www.wisden.com/wisden-crick...

Revealed: Cricket is running out of BATS - here's why A recurrent grumble during the recent England-India series concerned the state of the Dukes ball. But another equipment-related headache has been raging. The 'cricket bat emergency'.

🏏Cricket’s existential crisis: why the sport is in danger of running out of willow to make bats…
🇮🇳 Suppliers failed to take into account the post-IPL boom
🪾Not enough trees have been planted
🏁Race is on to source alternative material
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Australia V India In 2024/25: ‘Better Prepared, Better Selected, Better Coached And Better Led’ Hosts Regain Border-Gavaskar-Trophy | Wisden Cricket Almanack India toured Australia in 2024/25 for five Test matches and lost the series 1-4. Gideon Haigh’s tour report as well as all five match reports appeared in the 2025 edition of Wisden Cricketer’s Almanac...

Last year, Australia won a home series from 1-0 down for the first time since 1968/69. Read Gideon Haigh’s tour review and all five match reports from India’s tour of Australia, from the current edition of Wisden. www.wisden.com/series/austr...

Liam Livingstone opens up on England axing and his red hot form 'I'm not going to sit here and cry about it,' says Liam Livingstone. 'I've got to just keep doing what I've got to do. Whether that's in international cricket or not.'

🏏Spoke to Liam Livingstone, who has been in red-hot form for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred but is no longer wanted by England: "I was just told they were going with someone else, and that is pretty much all I’ve had since."
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I was the Hundred's fiercest critic - here's why I'm now supporting it It is a bitter pill for some to swallow, but the future of red-ball domestic cricket in this country is now inextricably linked with the success of the competition it despises

🏏I've not always been nice about the Hundred. But a trip to Southampton was a reminder that there's more to like than many imagine.
PLUS
🇦🇺A worrying take from Aussie boss
🙇‍♂️ Was the captaincy an apology to Bethell?
💯 Bob Simpson's near claim to fame
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A Wisden Cricketer Of The Year, Twice: The 1925 Summer That Saw Jack Hobbs Achieve A Rare Honour | Wisden Almanack In 1925, Jack Hobbs went past WG Grace’s record of most first-class centuries. Leo McKinstry’s feature on Hobbs’ golden summer originally appeared in the 2025 edition of the Wisden Almanack.

It’s 100 years since Jack Hobbs equalled, and then surpassed, W. G. Grace’s record for most first-class centuries. In this year’s Almanack, Leo McKinstry looked back at Hobbs’s summer of summers. www.wisden.com/wisden-crick...

ENGLAND v INDIA AWARDS: Bazball's worst error and India's blown chance After a rollercoaster month, who were the heroes and the villains, who provided the shocks and who didn't? Here are Inside Cricket's awards for this epic series.

🏏The end of 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿v🇮🇳 can mean only one thing: the Top Spin awards...
🐈Who purred along as the most serene batsman?
🦹Who was the best pantomime villain?
🤦‍♂️What was Bazball's biggest blow-up?
🤷‍♂️Who was the most baffling (non-)selection?
Plus several more...
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Australia's chaotic Ashes build-up and what it means for England INSIDE CRICKET: As they scraped their way to victory in the West Indies, it was tempting to wonder when the Australians had last fielded such a vulnerable top four.

🏏The problem with 🇦🇺's top order - and time is running out before the Ashes...
PLUS
🤯Meltdown for Warwickshire's No 11
🥵County bowlers toil in the heat with the Kookaburra
💵The England opener born in the wrong era
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God, it does, doesn’t it! 😂

Top 20 cricket grounds you must go to before you die: LAWRENCE BOOTH Wisden Editor Lawrence Booth has spent more than two decades watching cricket around the world, and has been picking the 20 you must visit.

🏏I've had a crack at naming the 20 best international venues in the world. How many have you been to? And do you agree with the 1-2-3?
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