Cricket has inspired more literature than any other sport – most of it devoted to its history, mechanics and even its peculiar language, as in 2006’s Cricket Lexicon by Leigh and Woodhouse. Here is a choice eight-ball over of its various fictional appearances.

Tom Brown’s Schooldays When Joseph O’Neill writes that cricket is a “lesson in civility”, it is a hand-me-down from this primer in public-school ethics. The hero of Thomas Hughes’s 1857 novel declares: “It’s more than a game. It’s an institution.” Patriotism, fair play and esprit de corps put their first runs on the board.

The Pickwick Papers In 1836, Pickwick sees All-Muggletonians and Dingley Dellers “amusing themselves with a majestic air”. Dickens recounts off-field burblings, an important part of village-cricket fiction: “Capital game – smart sport – fine exercise.”

The Cricket Match Hugh de Selincourt’s sentimental 1924 novel was intended as a consoling lullaby after the nightmare of the first world war. It ends: “The Night descended peacefully upon the village of Tillingfold. Rich and poor, old and young, were seeking sleep.” In England, Their England, the Scot AG Macdonell sets out to satirise such bucolic reverie, yet can’t help but fall under its spell.

The Go-Between LP Hartley’s 1953 novel, later a 1970 movie with Alan Bates and Julie Christie, scripted by Harold Pinter, contains perhaps the most serious use of cricket in literary fiction before O’Neill. In a key scene, farmer Ted whacks the bowling of Lord Trimingham’s starchy side to all parts. Marian knows the extent of his lusty technique. The narrator realises its wider symbolism “between obedience to tradition and defiance of it... between one attitude to life and another”.

Lagaan The 2001 film gives masters versus servants an imperial spin, pitting Indian villagers against the Raj.

The English Game Despite that old tension between gentlemen and players, GM Trevelyan’s idea that cricket can bring all-comers together endures, partly because it is true. Richard Bean’s play, currently touring, takes cricket as a microcosm for the condition of England. Or English men.

Flashman’s Lady The caddish side of the public-school cricketer is demonstrated by George MacDonald Fraser, as Flashman grabs a Lord’s hat-trick in 1842. EW Hornung had earlier brought this kind of dastardly cove to life with Raffles, a gentleman cricketer turned gentleman thief.

Wodehouse’s Psmith novels PG Wodehouse named Jeeves after a Warwickshire bowler “renowned for impeccable grooming” who died in the battle for the Somme. It was in the Psmith novels, however, that Wodehouse really exercised his passion for cricket. Mike is a tale of school prowess, while in Psmith in the City, Jackson misses out on a hundred when his future boss walks behind the bowler’s arm. Not a happy omen.

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