Cricket literature is far-reaching in its topics and subjects and I am therefore pleased, if not surprised, to find this anthology of cricket poetry recently released by Fairfield Books.

Needless to say, even before reading the content, this dinky book is, as a Fairfield Books publication, beautifully put together and of excellent quality.

I must admit that reviewing a book on poetry did initially alarm me: I did study English Literature to A Level - many, many years ago - and two memories still ring clear. My best essay - in the words of my teacher, not me - was on King Lear and I was painfully aware that it was written after a couple of illicit pints on a Saturday evening. The more harrowing moment was every pupil having to contribute a line to the school's centenary poem in 1982. I dreaded the wretched poem reaching my desk for continuation and, when it did, it duly took an age for my six or seven words to be written and passed on to the next desk. The moment was exacerbated when a fellow pupil said that he wasn't remotely surprised at how long it had taken me.

Anyway, I write this forty-four years later, and stone-cold sober. I can likely appreciate it better than I could then in the 1980s.

This is a rich collection of poems: there have been other such books written but I doubt that many, if any, cover such a wide section of subjects (which are all broken down into their relevant categories) and Catching The Light can be seen as not only an updated but a definitive guide to cricket's poetry. The styles vary enormously, the linguistic styles are fascinating and there is an abundance of writing on many subjects, some very short, others far longer. As the two editors, Nicholas Hogg and Tim Beard, mention, the choices in this anthology are all subjective and, with Fairfield's Matt Thacker also on board, there will have been different views but the end product is excellent.

I had expected to find Sir Henry Newbolt's Clifton College-themed Vitai Lampada - There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night - make an appearance but, then again, many of the inclusions in Catching The Light are more modern and the book includes a cross-section of writing. David Rayvern Allen's A Breathless Hush is, though, mentioned in the index.

Works include some well-known names; the editors have offered some of theirs and some Poets Laureate appear also so there is something here for the discerning reader to enjoy. May I thank Fairfield Books for, I hope, enlarging my cricket knowledge on this particular subject.