Ebook: Behind the boundary: cricket at a crossroads

England's back-to-back Ashes victories, coupled with winning the 2010 World Twenty20, might give the impression that all is well in English cricket. But behind the headlines is another story: that of a county game struggling to cope with unprecedented levels of debt, a decline in membership and attendances, and the demands on players and spectators of an unsustainable fixture schedule. As a member of the ECB's Board of Directors admitted, 'English cricket is at something of a crossroads.'

In this new book, Graeme Wright, a former editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and author of Betrayal: The Struggle for Cricket's Soul, takes to the road to speak to those at the coalface of English county cricket. What he discovers there is not just a sport in crisis, but 18 complex organisations coming to terms with the reality of an ever-changing commercial world.

And yet, perhaps surprisingly, he finds himself buoyed by a feeling of optimism. As the counties reposition their roles,...