Astute and concise at every turn - a window of cricket's glorious past

The Great Romantic: cricket and the golden age of Neville Cardus
Very few in history can lay claim to being first. Those who can become cultural epicentres whose talents lay the foundations for the development of much we now take for granted.

Chuck Berry, Voltaire, Roger Bannister. All disparate in their respective fields but conjoined as trailblazers whose influence and importance continues to be felt long after death.

Neville Cardus is not a name one would at first consider synonymous with such company. Yet when you sit down on a Sunday morning to read Barney Ronay, Lee Mottershead, Lawrence Booth or Paul Hayward, we all pay homage to a man who helped launch modern sportswriting.