An essential read for all those with a passion for cricket and an interest in the business of sport, this book is as innovative and ambitious as a Steve Smith century.

This is it. A guided missile leaves the hand of Jofra Archer and arrows towards you at 90mph. You must score two runs to win the World Cup. You miscue it and England triumph instead, a ground-breaking moment that captivates a global audience. Except you're not playing to 700 million people, you're actually at home, immersed in virtual reality. Technology is transforming sport, personalising fan experiences, and transforming sport's economics. Technology is also radically altering sporting performance, sharpening preparation, training and skills, and reinventing team tactics, as analysts drill down into the data revealing exactly where Jasprit Bumrah is going to bowl or where Jos Buttler is going to hit his next boundary. Technology's transformative impact has revolutionized the sports business, with a resulting increase in broadcast and digital media rights, enabling players like Virat Kohli or Ben Stokes to earn 2m dollars for six weeks work. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been at the centre of cricket's reinvention. It has catapulted cricket into the global mainstream, spawning numerous imitators. It is one of only two professional sports leagues in the world, where all franchises are profitable. After only 12 years since launch: the IPL is valued at 6.3b dollars; accounts for over 30% of global cricket revenues; and over 60% of Indian sports revenues. What lessons can be learnt from its design and the rapid growth of its media rights? How it secures, develops and manages the world's best players? And how the IPL has dealt with governance, ownership and gambling challenges? But now cricket, along with all sports, has been rocked by coronavirus, with IPL season 13 postponed, and the English season decimated. How can the IPL inform cricket's evolution in a post Covid world? What are the imperatives for cricket's 'New Innings'? Award-winning cricket writer and broadcaster Simon Hughes - The Analyst - and technology entrepreneur Manoj Badale, lead owner of the Rajasthan Royals, one of the IPL's most forward-thinking franchises, dissect the global business of sport. They offer unique insights into the IPL's drivers and innovations and, with unprecedented access into dressing rooms and boardrooms, reveal lessons for the business of sport. An essential read for all those with a passion for cricket and an interest in the business of sport, this book is as innovative and ambitious as a Steve Smith century.

The acclaimed New Yorker sportswriter examines the inner working of professional baseball, in these essays from the spring of 1977 to the summer of 1981. Late Innings takes fans far beyond the stadium view of the field and into the substrata of baseball as it is experienced by the people who make it happen. Celebrated as one of the game’s finest chroniclers, Roger Angell shares his commentary on the money, fame, power, traditions, and social aspects of baseball during the late seventies and early eighties. Covering monumental events such as Reggie Jackson’s three World Series home runs and the bitter ordeal of the 1981 players’ strike, Angell offers a timeless perspective on the world of baseball to be enjoyed by fans of all ages.

Dean A. Sullivan presents a fascinating array of provocative, unexpected, and illuminating materials that reveal the rich history of baseball. The 105 pieces in this work cover such topics as the Merkle Boner, Jim Thorpe, Christy Mathewson, the Black Sox scandal, Lou Gehrig, the death of Ray Chapman, Ty Cobb, Dizzy Dean, and more from the storied major leagues. Lesser-known treasures celebrate semipro teams, boys' baseball fiction, Japanese baseball, college ball, black baseball, the minor leagues, women's teams, and other facets of the wonderful game of baseball.

This compilation of 120 primary writings documents baseball’s first century, from a loosely organized village social event to the arrival of the National League. Collecting from a wide range of sources—including newspaper accounts, letters, folk poetry, songs, and annual guides—Dean A. Sullivan of Fairfax, Virginia, progresses chronologically from the earliest known baseball reference (1825) to the creation of the Doubleday Myth (1908).

In 1996, a brassy young team of fansproduced a guide to baseball statistics.Printed on a photocopier, its distribution,which was in the low hundreds, was limited tofriends, family, and die-hard stat heads. Sixteenyears later, the Baseball Prospectus annualregularly hits best-seller lists and has becomean indispensable guide for the serious fan. In Extra Innings, the team at Baseball Prospectusintegrates statistics, interviews, and analysis todeliver twenty arguments about today's game.In the tradition of their seminal book, BaseballBetween the Numbers, they take on everything fromsteroids to the amateur draft. They probe theimpact of managers on the game. They explainthe critical art of building a bullpen. In an erawhen statistics matter more than ever, Extra Inningsis an essential volume for every baseball fan.

A Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year A game in the life of a Little League team playing their championship game – and two best friends whose bond is put to the test. Two teams, six innings, one game. A lively cast of characters—baseball-loving boys between the ages of eleven to thirteen—are playing the biggest game of their lives. With acrobatic catches, clutch hits, dramatic whiffs, and costly errors, this game is full of action. But as the book unfolds, pitch by pitch, a deeper story emerges, with far more at stake: Sam and Mike, best friends, are trying to come to terms with Sam's newly diagnosed cancer. And this baseball diamond becomes the ultimate testing ground of Sam and Mike's remarkable friendship as they strive to find a way to both come out winners. This is for the championship. This is for life.