Paul Edwards has a deep and abiding love of the game. And because of that, he has been immersed in its characters and characteristics for as long as he can remember. On Christmas Day, he likes to visit Lancashire League cricket grounds and savour the encounters long past and imagine those yet to come. Unusual, perhaps, but it illustrates his love for the sport. The expression ‘cricket mad’ could have been coined for him.

And Edwards is a beautiful writer. He can express the moods and emotions of a day as well as anyone. And his love for the game – and those involved in it – pours off every page of this book. But because he has interests far beyond the boundary – in politics and people, in music and history – he is as likely to quote Mott the Hoople as Herman Melville; as likely to cite the repeal of the corn laws as regulations regarding Kolpak registrations.

His work is all the richer and more satisfying for it. He knows that not everything that counts can be counted. He knows you can’t define love or loyalty or a million things in between. So he tells us how a day’s play feels. He tells us about the people and places. He tells us why it matters but knows it doesn’t matter too much.

This book is a collection of some of his finest cricket writing.