500 Declared : The Joys of Covering 500 Cricket Tests

Legendary cricket writer Scyld Berry celebrates his reporting of 500 Test matches in this unique portrait of English cricket culture.

Scyld Berry attended his first Test match in a professional capacity in June 1973, as EW Swanton’s ‘amanuensis’. With his 501st Test now on the horizon – an achievement never reached by any other greats of the cricket-writing world – Berry has watched the sport evolve like no other.

Test cricket is a steady stream: England have not had a winter off-season since 1972, some Test series almost overlap with the next, and players span eras. But the game has changed enormously in the last half-century: helmets, neutral umpires, bigger bats, new shots, data, abolition of rest days, ICC Test Championship, and DRS has transformed this sport on the field. As screens take over, newspapers shrink and, accelerated by Covid, cricket is increasingly covered remotely, it represents a way of life that is dying out.

500 Declared explores these fundamental changes and developments. From in-depth explanations to short snippets lifted directly from Berry’s notebooks, this is a cricket book unlike any other. It is the culmination of a lifetime watching and writing about this fascinating sport.