A fascinating journey through the ever popular, time-honoured, thrilling, complex and peculiar game of cricket, that takes the cricket ball, the coriaceus orbis, as its central theme, driving force and guiding light.

No object encapsulates the subtle, mysterious richness of cricket as much as its most famous character, the cricket ball: the swinging, bouncing, spinning heart of the glorious game. Gary Cox tells us the life story of the ball in its many guises: new ball, old ball, live ball, dead ball, no-ball, lost ball, swing ball and dot ball. He untangles the complexities of spin bowling (with a little help from Shane Warne), the tricks and cheats involved in ball tampering (including a look at the 2018 Australian scandal) and explores the multi-coloured future of a rapidly changing game. A kaleidoscopic look at the ball through the lenses of everything from philosophy and science to history, politics and biography and the myriad facts and figures of the vast cricket universe, Cox brings you a brimming biography of this legendary leathern orb and the heroes, fools and villains it has created along the way.

"Cox’s style is delightful. General readers will find Cricket Ball a wonderful introduction to the game. Those more familiar with cricket writing will also enjoy his insights into its more technical aspects. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers." - CHOICE

"Cricket ball is a thoughtful delight…It is infinitely more worthy than most of the cliche-ridden pap that crams the sports shelves in our bookshops." - The Australian