Six reasons to pick up the March issue of The Cricketer!

The world is reconnecting with Test cricket. It is a celebration of the longer game, with a keynote feature from editor Simon Hughes, and reports from Australia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

The world is reconnecting with Test cricket says The Cricketer in its March issue...

You can buy a copy of the issue online HERE or SUBSCRIBE HERE! Here's what's in the mag...

1. "What I found reassuring was that the youngsters wanted to play Test cricket. Yes they all play the modern-day shots but Test cricket was still where these guys wanted to go"

Simon Hughes quotes Ian Bell, who has been coaching England Lions and Under-19s. Our March magazine is a celebration of the longer game, with a keynote feature from editor Hughes, and reports from Australia, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

2. "Phil Edmonds had enhanced his popularity by doing a deal with Johnnie Walker which in those days was deemed to have some medicinal qualities on a tour of India"

Vic Marks is a veteran of The Cricketer, but now he’s back every other month. He has penned a lovely piece on the England tour to India in 1984/85, as well as his views on fellow Somerset-produced spinners, Dom Bess and Jack Leach.

^{The beauty of Test cricket}

3. "I was going to be fined a thousand dollars for every kilo I put on. On that flight I had three bottles of water and a stick of celery; but I was cheering Boonie on"

Merv Hughes was a brilliant Test bowler for Australia in his own right, but he is also one of the game’s greatest characters. In a wide-ranging interview with Huw Turbervill he recalls his summer with Essex, facing Botham at Brisbane, the flight to England for the 1989 Ashes, sledging Mike Atherton, and his stints on reality TV.

4. "He is the first England cricketer to reach the landmark of 100 Test caps with the sense that the best could yet be ahead of him. And given everything he has already achieved, that is a pretty remarkable claim"

George Dobell pays tribute to England Test captain Joe Root in his monthly column.

^{Merv Hughes chats to Huw Turbervill}

5. "I’ve seen the future. And it’s absolutely horrendous. Watching the mind-boggling, gut-flopping contortions of the Abu Dhabi T10 it isn’t hard to picture Mother Cricket’s expression as she peers down from her plinth. Imagine cricket with all the annoying cricket removed"

Barney Ronay was not overly impressed with the Abu Dhabi T10 League.

6. "It has given me the happiest, most exhilarating cricket-watching experience of my life. You can still see where Chickie Baptiste sat his booming speakers, and imagine Gravy, the cross-dressing clown, cavorting in the rafters or ‘duelling’ with his comic nemesis Mayfield"

Mike Selvey recalls days at the Antigua Recreation Ground.

^{Vic Marks on England’s tour to India in 1984/85}

Elsewhere, the story of Stuart Surridge and his mighty bats is told by Huw Turbervill, in the company of Graham Gooch and David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, Richard Hobson chronicles fiction writers’ attempts to depict our game, Gideon Haigh discusses poet Robert Graves’ ambivalent relationship with cricket, Nick Friend discusses England women’s tour of New Zealand and young Northamptonshire batsman Emilio Gay tells James Coyne he is determined to play Test cricket…

You can buy a copy of the issue online HERE or SUBSCRIBE HERE!