CRICKET

As part of my work as a writer and editor, I talk and write about cricket – especially the stories from the global game that never make the headlines.

I write for the Wisden Almanack’s annual Cricket Round the World section, speaking with people who organise the game in ICC Associate countries to showcase stories from emerging cricketing nations. My articles have been about a children’s tournament in Uzbekistan (Wisden 2014), matches in deepest Siberia (2021), the growth of cricket in Tajikistan (2022), and more games in Uzbekistan (2023). 

I caught up with the Uzbek national team again in 2024 at a training session in Tashkent (pictured above), and wrote in The Times of Central Asia about their ambition to play international matches.

My first book, Getting Out: The Ukrainian Cricket Team’s Last Stand on the Front Lines of War (Pitch Publishing), came out last year. Getting Out is the story of how Ukraine’s cricketers helped the people around them to escape from Russia’s invasion in 2022. It also tells the surprising and eccentric history of cricket in Ukraine, including the Test cricketers – and some famous Ukrainian figures – who were part of their journey.

Getting Out was shortlisted for Cricket Book of the Year at the 2025 Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards. It was also listed as one of The New European’s non-fiction books of 2024.

Since its release I have spoken about Ukraine’s cricketers in media including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Telegraph’s Ukraine: The Latest podcast, and on Radio New Zealand (RNZ). 

I have also given talks at the Norfolk Cricket Society, the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London’s Holland Park, and the Big Smoke variety show in Soho.

After playing club and village cricket in England, I now sometimes play for the Authors CC – a wandering team of authors – and the historic Standard Athletic Club in Paris. 

Once finding myself on a cricket tour to Slovenia, Montenegro and Croatia, one of my photographs from a match in the Slovenian mountain village of Mežica features in the book Remarkable Cricket Grounds (Pavilion).

For the 2025 season I am helping to launch an affordable new brand of cricket bats and other gear: Bear Bats in South Wales.

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If you have a team or story that the cricketing world should know about, get in touch with me at hello@jonathancampion.com. Connect with me on Bluesky and LinkedIn.