The revised and updated edition of The Complete Encyclopedia of Cricket, an outstanding publication, the only one of its kind, is a comprehensive record of the world's most compelling game from the early days of the Hambledon Cricket Club through to its modern status as one of the most-watched, played and celebrated games on the planet.

This beautiful book, with over 300 excellent photos, is a journey through the history of the game from its earliest forms through to England's historic Ashes win of 2005 and beyond. The authors have remarked that: "Perhaps the euphoria of the wonderful Ashes series of 2005 has not been surpassed (will it ever be?) but the series in 2009 in which England regained the Ashes lost so emphatically in 2006-07, was not short of its exciting moments. It started when at the new Test ground of Cardiff, England's last pair found themselves desperately batting out time for a draw, and ended at The Oval with an emphatic win. It's a funny game, as the Aussies will ruefully agree, having outbatted England in the series by eight centuries to two, and taken 12 more wickets than England. And such are the uncertainties of cricket that England turned the statistics on their head in such an overwhelming manner in 2010-11 that they averaged 51.14 runs per wicket to Australia's 29.23.

The book provides invaluable information on all three versions of the game at both international and domestic level in all the Test-playing nations.

The book has been divided into six sections - The History of Cricket, Domestic Cricket, Test Cricket, Cricket World Cup, The Great Cricketers and The Famous Grounds.

The Great Cricketers section records the careers of the greatest players to have played the game, from the swashbuckling batsmen through to the guile and brawn of the game's most successful bowlers and features players from Abdul Qadir to Zaheer Abbas. Shane Warne has been described as "The Spin Doctor" - the greatest spin bowler the game has ever seen, and, in 2000, Wisden named him as one of the five cricketers of the century.

Glenn McGrath is a Record-breaking fast bowler, according to the writers. "It is part of McGrath's technique to single out an opposition batsman and announce that he is targetting him and, coincidence or not, he seems to succeed in getting some batsmen more often than the law of averages would suggest - Michael Atherton being a case in point. Only illness (of his wife) and injury halted his march to 500 wickets. This milestone came in the first Ashes Test of 2005 when he had Marcus Trescothick caught by Langer at Lord's. He took nine wickets in this match in a masterly display. He retired from Test ricket after the 2006-07 Ashes series".

All the previous ten editions of the World Cups feature in this excellent publication and according to the writers, "the victory by India was greeted with great enthusiasm not only in India, but in the Indian communities overseas. It is true indicator of where cricket's beating heart now really lies."

The domestic tournaments, with winners over the years, of all the cricket-playing countries have been mentioned in detail. Indian cricket lovers would love to go through the lists of the winners of the Dulelep Trophy, Ranji Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Wills Trophy and Ranji Trophy One Day in this section. The writers have rightly mentioned that like all Test-playing nations, India saw fewer and fewer international stars appearing in domestic first-class cricket, especially when, in 2002-03, central contracts for 20 top players, were introduced.

Carlton Books, Peter Arnold and Peter Wynne-Thomas have done an outstanding job in bringing out The Complete Encyclopedia of Cricket. An indispensable companion, the book is a must for every cricket lover.