While cricket remains hugely popular with all age groups today, at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was the national game. Cricketers were the sporting icons of their age, as footballers are today. The call to arms in 1914 and over the years of war that followed was answered in droves by young men including Test and First-class cricketers. Bullets, shells and gas did not discriminate and too many of these star performers perished alongside their lesser well-known but equally brave and patriotic comrades. In Final Wicket the author has researched the lives, sporting careers and deaths of 275 top class cricketers who made the ultimate sacrifice between August 1914 and the end of 1918. He includes not just British players but those from countries of what was then the Empire. The enormity of the horror and the scale of wholesale loss of life during The Great War is well demonstrated by these succinct but moving obituaries which are accompanied by images of the individuals concerned. Many died in the mud of the Western Front but others in the air and at sea across the world.

Recalling the incredible sacrifice of over 100 years ago, this evocative book, which follows on from the best-selling Into Touch - Rugby Internationals Killed in The Great War, is a must-read for any sporting or military history enthusiast.