From Azeem to Ashes: English Cricket’s Struggle with Race and Class

From Azeem to Ashes charts the last, miserable days of Joe Root’s captaincy in early 2022 through to the T20 World Cup victory before the breathless Bazball Ashes finale at the Oval. It’s a book written for cricket lovers by a cricket lover, with voices from clubs, the boardroom and the commentary box.

September 2020: cricket is in the headlines for the first time since the 2005 Ashes. But the focus is racism, not runs or wickets. Azeem Rafiq’s treatment has ignited fierce debate about prejudice and class.

The book never ducks uncomfortable questions posed by the Rafiq affair. Why do England’s cricket teams - men’s and women’s - look so unlike the nation they represent? How can grassroots participation be developed and preserved? In the franchise-driven, global circus of modern cricket, what place is there for Tests - or even 50-over games?

From Azeem to Ashes takes a hard-nosed but affectionate and humorous look at cricket. It’s a book written for those who want to protect its future.

Jon Berry has written three books about football. Hugging Strangers tells of a life hobbled by the unglamorous club of his birth, Project Restart charts football’s emergence from Covid and An Armchair Fan’s Guide to the Qatar World Cup looks at football’s insistence on selling itself to the highest bidder. Brutish Necessity is the story of Oswald Grey, a Windrush immigrant and the last man hanged in Birmingham.