Full Circle | A History of Cricket | Richard Heller, Peter Oborne | Hardcover Edition

In its early forms in the 18th century, cricket was a commercial entertainment, a vehicle for gambling alongside cock-fighting or wrestling. In the Victorian era, the sport was recreated as a means of keeping order in England’s public schools and increasingly allied with ideas of virtue and manliness. Exported by empire loyalists, cricket took root across the globe – thriving in some countries, indelibly linked with racism and colonialism in others.

From Australia to the Caribbean to Afghanistan, Oborne and Heller explore cricket’s expansion and its later role in decolonisation, education and politics. They argue that in recent years the game – dominated by the wealth and scale of franchise cricket – has come full circle, less a sport than a commercial enterprise once more. In consequence, they believe it is in crisis. As big money has taken over the game, is cricket losing its integrity and meaning?

‘A truly global history of cricket, that draws on a wide range of sources and is itself elegantly written.’ Ramachandra Guha, author of The Commonwealth of Cricket

Richard Heller was a long-serving columnist on the Mail on Sunday and then The Times, and is the author of two cricket novels. He was twice a finalist on the BBC’s Mastermind, specialising on Gary Sobers’ career. A strong devotee of Pakistani cricket, he and Oborne are the co-authors of White On Green (2016) and during lockdown launched the popular podcast, Oborne & Heller On Cricket.

Peter Oborne's biography of Basil D’Oliveira won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Prize in 2004. His Wounded Tiger, a history of Pakistan cricket, was Wisden’s book of the year in 2014. Oborne’s political writing includes the Sunday Times bestsellers The Assault on Truth (2021) and Complicit: Britain’s Role in the Destruction of Gaza (2025). He has worked for the Spectator, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph. Today he is Associate Editor of Middle East Eye and is a columnist for Byline Times and DeClassified. He is captain of the White City All Stars CC, a wandering cricket team.