This request came from Vicki. Thanks, Vicki!
I was chatting with someone in India who is unhappy with their cricket team and remembering playing cricket as a kid. I’m wondering if there are any good cricket romances.
Sarah: I am stumped!
Amanda: Same! If any exist, they’re most certainly indie pubbed or not readily available in the US, given that Jodi McAlister’s reality TV romances were Aussie-only for a while, given that her publisher wasn’t sure about global appeal
Sarah: A cursory search has yielded a few cricket romances, such as The Love Declaration by Ritika Aastha. ( A )
And The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan. ( A | BN | K )
Shana: Bad Girl Gone Wicked by Shilpa Suraj ( A ), according to Reddit.
What romances would you recommend? Let us in the comments!
I don’t know if this helps as it’s not published yet, but author Anna P. is starting a series revolving around cricket. The first book is Stumped, and it is releasing on May 30, 2025 per the preorder on Amazon.
Not a romance, but Dorothy Sayers’ “Murder Must Advertise” has an extended cricket sequence. And one of the Sister Boniface episodes has a murder on a cricket pitch.
Vicki, were you talking to a Chennai Super Kings supporter? Because I am one and I am unhappy with them this year…
Keira Andrews’s book, “Honeymoon For One” (m/m) includes a MC who is a big cricket fan (so, this is only loosely cricket-adjacent), but a match between Australia and England features in the epilogue (although not called The Ashes, the context implies it).
Istg I read something fairly recently where a guy whose closeted lover died goes to check out his cricket team. I don’t remember if it was a mystery or a romance or what. And it must have either been a short story or I just stopped reading it because I remember nothing beyond that set up. Which is not much of a recommendation, especially since I can find no trace of it in my Libby tags.
Wodehouse maybe? He has a zillion romances and some of them must involve cricket, although all the cricket I can recall offhand is in his school stories.
I can generally recall skimming cricket scenes in any number of novels written between the wars, but I can’t bring any romances to mind, and nothing more recent.
I think KJ Charles has cricket in Jackdaw- some sport in 19th century England anyway- but it’s not shown in much detail.
Must admit, my first thought was a cricket shifter…
Read another post that mentioned rugby and now I think it was rugby in the KJ Charles. But I still want to see someone shift into a cricket.
would strongly recommend Anuja Chauhan’s The Zoya Factor (it was adapted into a movie with Sonam Kapoor but the book is just better!!!)!! Chauhan is funny as always, and gets the zeitgeist completely!
p.s. I also enjoyed Sarah’s “I’m stumped.” 😀 Spot-on!!!
@Kris Bock Ben plays rugby in Jackdaw, but I kept thinking KJ Charles too. If there’s anything it’s minor. Like maybe there’s mention of cricket at the school in Unfit to Print? I keep thinking someone’s skill at cricket makes them able to idk complete an unlikely throw or smash someone super effectively? I’m going to have to do a concentrated reread again aren’t I? Oh no not that lol
Not a book but Lagaan – epic Bollywood cricket romance https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169102/
Yes, Chennai Super Kings. Though I hear they have now won a game. Apparently there was an injury that led to a shake up in the team.
Also love The Zoya Factor by Anuja Chauhan and the movie version, too! I’m not Desi but I turned to Hindi films years ago to find the great romance stories that Hollywood no longer does!
I’ve been curious about this historical romance by Margaux Thorne, called A Perfect Match. Looks like the first in a series and it’s definitely cricket-focused! Reminds me a bit of another wonderful Hindi film, Dil Bole Hadippa about a girl who loves cricket!
I remember enjoying H Lewis-Foster’s Burning Ashes years ago. If you want to be enraged, there’s a review of it at CricketWeb in which the writer refers to “the inherent shortcomings of the genre” of romance.
I’m not remembering which book by Gail Carriger had a cricket game played by werewolves, but I believe that there is at least one. Google AI is saying it’s the short story The curious case of the werewolf who wasn’t, but I’m not sure I trust it. But I do remember cricket references in her Soulless series.
Interesting that I can think of a half-dozen rugby romances, but zero cricket romances.