Kit Harris

Kit Harris is a cricket writer, editor, and broadcaster whose books cover both established traditions and the sport’s development in less familiar settings. He is desk editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and a BBC cricket commentator. His playing experience includes international cricket for Iceland, an association that also became the subject of one of his books.

His bibliography includes The Queen at the Cricket, published in 2022, From Lord’s to the Fjords, published in 2023, and 1864: The Year That Changed Cricket, published in 2026. They take different routes into cricket history: matches attended by a monarch, the creation of a small country’s national team, and a single Victorian year in which several important changes converged.

Harris’s editorial and broadcasting work places him within the daily recording and explanation of cricket, while the books extend that work into historical narrative. His subjects include spectatorship and ceremony as well as players and institutions. The Iceland book adds personal knowledge of a cricketing community outside the game’s major centers; the study of 1864 draws on contemporary newspapers, magazines, and letters to reconstruct a much earlier sporting world.

Cricket Books

The Queen at the Cricket: Harris reconstructs the forty-four cricket matches attended by Queen Elizabeth II across several decades. The account moves between Test matches, World Cup occasions, and less formal fixtures, using her appearances to revisit players and events from changing eras. The result combines royal visits with the cricket itself, connecting a recurring spectator with developments in the international game. Published in 2022.

The sequence of matches takes the reader through different generations of players, from leading figures of the 1950s to later international stars. It also encounters debates and disruptions surrounding the game, including controversies over bowling actions, difficult pitches, and South Africa’s place in international competition. The Queen’s presence supplies continuity across these changing settings, allowing Harris to revisit cricket’s public occasions through a particular record of attendance.

From Lord's to the Fjords: The Saga of Icelandic Cricket: This history follows cricket’s emergence in Iceland, beginning with enthusiasts who encountered the game while abroad and returned determined to introduce it at home. Harris recounts the improvised efforts to obtain equipment, establish competition, and create a national side. Publicity, misunderstandings, visiting personalities, and online attention accompany an account of how an unlikely cricket community developed. Published in 2023.

The Icelandic story includes the mistaken identification of an Oxford visiting party as England’s national team, publicity around a final that did not exist, and an unusual match associated with a visiting rock singer. Those episodes accompany the practical work of forming a team without an established local cricket infrastructure. The account builds toward Iceland’s first international fixture, showing how persistence and humor helped sustain the project.

1864: The Year That Changed Cricket: Harris examines six developments associated with 1864, including changes to bowling laws, W. G. Grace’s emergence, the beginning of Wisden’s almanac, and the growth of cricket beyond its established centers. Contemporary reports and correspondence connect those events with Victorian society. The book places institutional changes alongside unusual episodes to show how several turning points occurred within one year. Published in 2026.

Other events give texture to the year’s main developments: cricket played on ice, discussions of lacrosse as a competing summer activity, legal cases involving the game, and England’s second tour to Australia. Harris uses these smaller episodes to place sporting institutions within ordinary Victorian life. The book also examines the beginnings of the County Championship idea and developments connected with Eden Gardens in Calcutta.