Personalised Cricket Book

Enjoy a Terrific Newspaper History of International Cricket

Our Personalised International Cricket Books are terrific gifts for any fan the sport. Featuring a collection of articles written by journalists who were there at the time, these presents provide a newspaper history of the best international series’ and rivalries from the past one hundred years. Highlights include famous Ashes contests and a selection of England’s finest moments against countries such as South Africa and New Zealand. These great cricket gifts also celebrate the milestones of current and former legends of the game.

The International Cricket Books are smartly presented, making them a wonderful piece of sports memorabilia. Below you will find a brief history of the sport and more information about the contents of our Personalised Cricket Books. We also suggest other personalised sports presents and alternative cricket gifts.

Brief History of Cricket

Cricket was invented in Northern Belgium and became a prominent sport in London during the late 1600s. The world-famous Marylebone Cricket Club was founded in 1787 and the popularity of cricket soon grew to such an extent that it became recognised as the national sport of England. The expansion of the British Empire led to cricket being played all over the world. The inaugural international match took place between USA and Canada in 1844, England toured Australia for the first time in 1862 and the Ashes became a regular contest following England’s first home defeat to Australia in 1882. South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and the West Indies have since become other cricketing superpowers, but the USA and Canada have not continued to compete at this level.

Sussex Cricket Club was founded in 1839 and the County Championships formed in 1890. The domestic competition has instigated many developments in the international game, such as one-day cricket. Twenty20 emerged from the county scene in 2003 and it has had a dramatic impact on the sport. The Twenty20 World Cup is now the world’s third largest and most viewed event and the Indian Premier League is a lucrative option for the best cricketers in the game.

Highlights of the International Cricket Book

The Personalised International Cricket Books contain a newspaper history of famous cricket matches stretching back to the early twentieth century. One of the highlights of these gifts is a fascinating collection of reports on former Ashes contests.

The Cricket Book celebrates the comprehensive Ashes series wins that England enjoyed in the 1920s and the emergence of Sir Donald Bradman in 1930. "The Don" is still recognised as the greatest batsmen of all time and his performance in this series contributed largely to the Australians winning back the Ashes. In 1932-1933, England formed a controversial plan to overcome Bradman’s batting prowess. The Test series would become known as “The Bodyline Tour" and featured a barrage of short bowling, which outraged the Australians. England eventually won the Bodyline series and the Gift Book also contains Ashes wins in the 1950s and 1971, plus ‘Botham’s Ashes’ in 1981. More recent victories against Australia have included the famous Ashes summer of 2005, the Commonwealth Bank one-day series in 2007 and the 2-1 Ashes win of 2009.

In addition to the Ashes, our Cricket Books contain newspaper coverage of entertaining Test matches against India and South Africa, the 2005 tour of Pakistan and the summer of cricket against New Zealand in 2008. The gifts also incorporate articles on a variety of World Cup finals and the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup competition. Finally, we feature a selection of reports on the stunning landmarks of some of the best cricket players in history. This includes Sir Jack Hobbs’ record-breaking 127th century, Brian Lara moving past Gary Sobers’ run record, Freddie Flintoff winning "World Cricketer of the Year" and the wicket records of Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Other Cricket Gifts

GoneDigging offers many other gifts for cricket enthusiasts, including our popular Personalised 2005 Ashes Book. This great piece of sports memorabilia provides a detailed newspaper history of the Ashes summer of 2005, which has since been referred to as one of the greatest cricket contests of all time. Other cricket presents include our Bespoke Cricket Bat and Spoof Cricket Newspaper Headline gifts.

Alternative Sports Gift Books

The Personalised International Cricket Book is just one of our terrific sports book gifts. You can alternatively enjoy editions dedicated to sports such as Rugby, Formula 1 and Golf. We also have an extensive range of Personalised Football Club Books, featuring match reports on some of the biggest games in the history of over fifty clubs. All of our unique Personalised Gift Books make great presents for any sports fan.