2006 was a huge year in cricket; it was the year of the titanic Ashes series in England where England wrested away the urn from Australia. It was the year that Bermuda qualified for its first World Cup and the year Zimbabwe's sad disintegration resulted in crashing defeats to South Africa.

2006 also saw the 143rd edition of "Wisden", which recorded all this and more. Along with many other "Wisden" readers, I don't read "Wisden" from start to finish; rather I jump to back of "Wisden" (page 1600 in the case of the 2006 edition) to read the index of unusual occurrences. 2006 saw Indian player MS Dhoni's parents menaced by eunuchs, a six destroy a spectator's icecream and Mark Ramprakash dislocate his toe while getting a cup of tea.

Then there are the Obituaries, headlined perhaps by Kerry Packer, no great shakes as a cricketer himself but who changed cricket forever with the introduction of World Series Cricket. And who could miss the Errata section, particularly the correction to page 644 of the 2005 edition, where it was noted "the new lime tree at Canterbury was originally planted by Anthony Levick, as Kent President, not E.W. Swanton.

Recommended reading for any cricket fan. ( )

A pitch-perfect monument to a the greatest series of recent times. ( )

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