500 Declared

‘500 Tests is a mind-boggling number, a testimony to Scyld's commitment and passion for the game’ – Ravi Shastri

‘Hell of an effort. All round quality’ – Michael Vaughan

Legendary cricket writer Scyld Berry celebrates his reporting of 500 Test matches in this unique portrait of English cricket culture.

Scyld Berry attended his first Test match in a professional capacity in June 1973, as EW Swanton’s ‘amanuensis’. Having reached 500 England Tests – an achievement never reached by any other greats of the cricket-writing world – Berry has watched the sport evolve like no other.

Test cricket is a steady stream: England have had only one winter without Test cricket since 1972, some Test series almost overlap with the next, and players span eras. But the game has changed enormously in the last half-century: helmets, neutral umpires, bigger bats, new shots, data, abolition of rest days, ICC Test Championship, and DRS have transformed this sport on the field. As screens take over, publications shrink and, accelerated by Covid, cricket is increasingly covered remotely, being a newspaper correspondent represents a way of life that is dying out.

500 Declared explores these fundamental changes and developments. From in-depth profiles and explanations to snippets lifted directly from Berry’s notebooks, this is a cricket book unlike any other. It is the culmination of a lifetime watching and writing about this fascinating sport.