6 ways to get your when the season is on pause

Welcome to your free download from Cricket ! These are incredible times for all manner of reasons but this pdf will offer you lots of inspiration, if you’re indoors and missing cricket.

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All the best, John Fuller.

1. Tuck into Cricket Films / Documentaries

The Test, on Amazon Prime, traces Australia’s fortunes as they aim to rebuild after the ​ ball-tampering scandal. The all-areas access and insight from players, coaches and commentators makes this a must-watch.

By following the Aussies as they go all over the world in limited-overs and Test series, there’s plenty to savour as a UK-based cricket fan - including the World Cup and Ashes.

More of my recommendations include: Fire in Babylon about the fearsome West Indies in the ​ ​ 1070s and 80s, Death of a Gentleman about the threat to Test cricket and Mumbai Indians ​ ​ ​ on Netflix for T20 fireworks.

**Much of this is paid-for content on Amazon or Netflix but scouring YouTube, Facebook and ​ Vimeo are other sources of cricket action to catch up on.

I particularly like the short (10-minute) documentary by Chris Hay on Geoff Deighton playing club cricket long past the point when most have packed up their whites. Beautifully filmed.

Check out 80 for free on Vimeo and you can read my post called Meet the Yorkshire ​ ​ ​ cricketer still playing in his eighties. ​

2. Computer Games: Steer Yorkshire to Victory

I’ve always been a gamer and the first thing I did before we went into self-isolation was buy Cricket Captain 19. You manage a cricket team (Yorkshire, obviously) and try to steer them to ​ an impressive haul of trophies and possibly get headhunted for the England job.

At the time of writing this, it is 2022. Yorkshire have won the County Championship, Ben Coad and Will Fraine have played for their country and I spent a fortune signing Virat Kohli who repaid that faith by scoring massive double-hundreds.

It is wonderful escapism. Other ideas include Stick Cricket (online or apps) or Battrick (a free ​ ​ online cricket management game where you play against others online). Here’s my Guide to ​ Battrick that might well hoover up months of your life. ​

3. Catch up on cricket books

Since I’ve been indoors, it’s been satisfying to thumb through the few books that I keep for any period of time.

One of my favourites is From the Boundary’s Edge; a coffee table photography book by Getty ​ ​ Images’ Laurence Griffiths of club cricket from across the UK.

It would be remiss of me as a cricket author not to flag up the two cricket books I’ve written - in case any of you want to fire up the Kindle and read them at home.

All Great and Small is a collection of tales from my travels around Yorkshire club ​ cricket.

If you prefer your county cricket then Last of the Summer Wickets is a celebration of the ​ ​ Scarborough Cricket Festival; part travel-writing, part interviews and analysis of the history and heritage down the years.

If you want something current then the PlayFair Cricket Annual (Kindle Edition) will have you ​ ​ ​ well versed in Will Fraine’s batting average and Jack Shutt’s favourite player in no time at all - so when the cricket season resumes, you’ll be in the know.

I’d recommend anything by Duncan Hamilton; the only person to win the Sports Book of the Year three times with his biography of Neville Cardus wowing the judges this year.

Meanwhile, there is Just a Few Lines coming soon about Brian Close that promises to reveal ​ ​ much about a man at the heart of Yorkshire cricketing history.

4. Go Old-school with Owzthat

Hands up...who’s played Owzthat? Have you got those charming dice in either a tin or tube kicking around your belongings somewhere?

Owzthat allows you to re-create any cricket match from the ages or begin a fresh team, armed only with an understanding of the game and the luck of the dice.

It’s pencil cricket in essence and fondly remembered even now.

Why not dig out some old cricket games from the loft or garage? A thread of discussion on the Cricket Yorkshire’s Facebook page revealed some alternatives like Family Cricket and Test ​ Match Cricket (remember that green carpet?).

5. Explore the BFI Archives

The British Film Institute has a cricket film archive that is unique to them and lots of it is free. ​ ​ ​ From Cricketing Legends to Test and Tours, The County Game and Grassroots, there is footage over many decades.

Want to watch a 3-minute silent film of Cawthorne Cricket Club from 1971? Guess what? It’s there! Yorkshire vs Surrey from The Circle in Hull (1968)? No problem.

6. Use the White Rose Forum

This is an unprecedented time for cricket with both amateurs and professionals kept indoors and unable to play.

For the time being, that means no cricket - but plenty of time to discuss it. Have a read about The White Rose Forum; a community of cricket fans who use the established forum to chat ​ about everything from

If that’s of interest, it’s easy to set up an account and jump into conversations or just read ​ ​ what’s there on Tapatalk.

So, that’s it for this pdf download...some ideas to give you all the cricket you need until things resume outdoors.

You can follow @cricketyorks on Twitter for the latest from Cricket Yorkshire and there’s also ​ ​ a CY Facebook Page which often sees all manner of discussions fire up from cricket fans ​ ​ around the world.

Thanks for reading!