Written during the summer of 1978, and published the following year, the book describes the 1978 English cricket season through a series of essays based around matches Moorhouse attended.

Moorhouse attended a range of games from school and village level to Test matches, thus covering both amateur and professional cricket.

The book therefore describes different types of cricket and the different levels at which it is played, providing a picture of its place in English society at that time.

The descriptions are also set against the backdrop of the Packer Crisis, which was affecting cricket at that time, with a number of professionals joining the so-called 'Packer Circus', an unofficial series of matches funded by Australian tycoon Kerry Packer.

The writer starts the book at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket, with the traditional three-day fixture between the MCC and the County champions of the previous season (in this case, Middlesex).