In line with other 'nomics' books, this was a fantastic and very interesting book.
I think that it is not quite as well developed in some chapter, for example the how well do teams play above or below their average temperatures. But I still think that was an interesting and novel theme to explore.

I particularly enjoyed the focus on IPL team building as that seems to fit with the 'nomics' factor well.

All around an interesting book that cricket lovers will enjoy.

I love cricket, I'm a bit of a stats geek, and I really enjoyed Soccernomics, which Stefan Szymanski co-wrote as well, so I was hoping to love this. Unfortunately it falls slightly short of Soccernomics, there's less revelations in here and some of it feels like common knowledge backed up by stats rather than challenging what we know,and more than anything it's simply a more dry read - apologies for the pun, but I found it more of a slog at times.

That said it's well researched and a good book to read to understand the global game rather than just English cricket.

I have loved cricket all my life and I like a stat (including a bonkers Andy Zaltzman stat) so I expected to love Crickonomics. It is certainly packed with stats and deductions from them, but to be honest I found it rather hard going.

Crickonomics is firmly based on data. As an example, the first section deals with the influence of class in English cricket and why there tend to be more Southern, privately educated batters, but a predominance of Northern, state educated bowlers. It’s an interesting question (as are many of the questions in the book) and the authors produce lots of data to answer it: analyses to check whether it is true and not just a stereotype (it is true) and several tables of data analysing all sorts of things to do with the issue. There is also a decent discussion of the reasons for it, including views from well-informed people in the game. It’s generally well written, too, and other currently important issues get a similar, thoroughly researched, thoughtful treatment, but for me the balance doesn’t quite work, and I found myself rather slogging through data-heavy accounts and trying to remember that this isn’t just a dry statistical exercise, but an important, detailed look at a game I love. I wasn’t always able to remember that, which meant I found the book something of a slog, I’m afraid.

To be fair, this isn’t really a book to be read straight through; taking a section at a time with breaks would probably improve the experience, and it will be of huge interest and help to those analysing the game and proposing to make changes. However, to this general reader and average cricket fan it was less readable and enjoyable than I had hoped.

(My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for an ARC via NetGalley.)

A fantastic journey through the history and modern-day status of cricket around the world, covering topics including women's cricket and IPL, as well as the recent effect of Covid-19 on cricket, Written by an economist, this book is great for readers who enjoy numbers and statistics and love seeing sport through an analytical and logical lens.

I enjoyed Soccernomics and was delighted to see that this author along with Tim Wigmore have paid their attention to cricket.

It has proved to be a perfect opening partnership as they use logical and original thinking backed up by statistical and data analysis to provide answers and explanations for most of cricket’s major talking points.

This is a book to savour as it challenges so called accepted norms and is thought provoking and original.

Highly recommended.