Why do words and cricket go together?

‘Words and cricket,’ wrote Beryl Bainbridge, ‘seem to go together.’ Why should this be? The Ashes series starting next week might not be the most eagerly anticipated of recent times, due mainly to the Aussies having developed a taste for self-destruction rivalling that of Frank Spencer. But still the words come. Broadsheets and blogs alike are bubbling with pieces about the urn. There are new books too, such as Simon Hughes’s Cricket’s Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in 10 Matches. It’s just as entertaining and informative as the ex-Middlesex bowler’s previous books, displaying his customary eye for the memorable detail. Picking the Edgbaston Test from the 2005 series, he recalls that the ball with which Shane Warne bowled Andrew Strauss in the second innings couldn’t be replicated by Hawkeye – the computer thought that that much turn was impossible.

With just a few days to go before commencement of the 2013 hostilities (an apt word, given David Warner), I meet Simon at Lord’s to discuss why cricket should be so far ahead of other sports in producing great books.