Pageant of cricket by David Frith

The finest book of cricket photographs is also the thickest ever published (640 pages). Frith, a historian par excellence and more than an avid collector of cricket memorabilia, put together this splendid 1987 illustrated history of the willow game with 2000 paintings, magazine covers and photographs (some shot by him) dating back to 1739 till the 1986-87 Ashes series. "The book aims to enlighten a little, enlighten a lot," wrote Frith in the Introduction and it does much more! A painting of a galaxy of cricket greats, including our very own Sunil Gavaskar and Bishan Singh Bedi makes up the front and back covers.
Simply amazing: Australia's Eddie Gilbert, the Aboriginal fast bowler of the 1930s captured by Frith in a mental asylum in 1972.
India interest image: Ajit Wadekar waving to the crowd on either side of a packed Mumbai street in a motorcade on the team's arrival from their victorious 1971 series in England.