Cricket defines Englishness like no other national pastime. From its earliest origins in the sixteenth century (or an early version played by shepherds called creag in the 1300s), through the formation of the MCC and the opening of Lord's cricket ground in 1787, to the spread of county cricket in the next century, when the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack was first published and the Ashes series was born, this simple sport of bat and ball has captured the imagination of the masses. It has also produced its fair share of eccentrics, heroes and downright villains. The last hundred years have seen cricket's popularity spread throughout the world, limited overs and most recently Twenty20 contests start to rival Test matches, and assiduously-kept records be made and broken, but England has always remained at the heart of the game, whatever the Indian Premier League may think. And throughout its 500-year history, cricket has also been a mirror for society as a whole, reflecting the changes that have brought us from the quintessential village green to Freddie Flintoff's pedalo, from W G Grace to Monty Panesar. William Hill Award-winning writer Simon Hughes, no mean player himself, ha