Australian cricket writer Jarrod Kimber was number one in the batting order for Norfolk Cricket Society’s 2025-26 programme of guest speakers at Manor Park on Monday 22 September.

The author, commentator and analyst, born and raised in Melbourne before moving to London in 2008, discussed his new book, The Art of Batting: The Craft of Cricket’s Greatest Run Scorers, which looks at the science, skill and culture behind the greatest Test run scorers of all time.

He ranks his own top 50 in the process. Donald Bradman tops the list, followed by Sachin Tendulkar and two Englishmen in Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton, with Brian Lara completing the top five.

Kimber revealed that Geoffrey Boycott was unimpressed at being number 26 on the list, though Boycott is ranked above Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen, while Denis Compton and Colin Cowdrey are among household names from these shores who do not make the cut.

The 45-year-old Kimber, guest at the September meeting, described his unorthodox path to becoming one of the world’s most highly regarded cricket writers. With no background in newspapers, initially no accreditation and adopting an original, alternative approach to covering the game, he explained that he had not risen through the ranks of the mainstream media, nor followed the Press pack’s traditional way of operating and style of coverage.

Funny, self-deprecating and frank in his views of some of the personalities he has encountered – he was scathing about the game’s administrators – Kimber also displayed a dazzling depth of knowledge of the game, its players, its history and the technique of those at the top.

He explained the rationale behind the ratings, compiled with the help of metrics and analytics, ranking most highly those who had outstanding success at both the start and end of their careers, at home and abroad, though he admitted that in conducting hundreds of in-depth interviews and writing the book, compiling the top 50 list had become almost secondary to the insight gained from speaking to some of the legends of the game.

Kimber rose to prominence as the founder of the cricketwithballs blog, before working as editor of SPIN Magazine and then as a writer for ESPNcricinfo. He has written five books on cricket and was jointly responsible for the award-winning film Death of a Gentleman (2015), which stalked the corridors of power and confronted the methods used by India, England and Australia to take financial control of the international game and condemned the influence of big money on the sport.

Kimber might make a fine stand-up comedian. He described his memorable filmed encounter with Giles Clarke, the former ECB chairman, who had mistaken him for a student when he doorstepped a top-level meeting at which ICC chairman Narayanaswami Srinivasan held sway.

He answered questions from an appreciative audience on subjects including the future of Test cricket, the forthcoming Ashes series, the effect of The Hundred, cricket in the USA and betting in the game. Compere for the evening was author and former Norfolk cricketer John Carter.

Words by David Cuffley

Photos by Adam Pryke