The England cricket team are not the equivalent of the All Blacks in rugby, or Brazil or Germany in football; they have been defined as much by their shortcomings as their triumphs. But for almost 150 years they have been part of the fabric of English society and, for many, a barometer of the state of the nation. In the summer of 2018, they play their 1,000th Test match.

In this first definitive history of a great national sporting institution, Simon Wilde charts the turbulent story of a team that, in its early days, lacked a home or controlling body before being appropriated by a private club, the MCC, and deployed overseas as virtually a diplomatic arm of empire. He traces the historic tensions between amateurs and professionals, and the team's modern battles for independence from the counties and control of players tempted to put cash-rich Twenty 20 leagues before country.

England: The Biography also provides the first detailed exploration of the tactics and strategies that have shaped the side, from Douglas Jardine's controversial Bodyline bowling and the time-wasting of Len Hutton and Peter May to Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower's love of data analysis, as well as the recent white-ball revolution.

Simon Wilde puts famous episodes, such as the Basil D'Oliveira and Kevin Pietersen affairs, the Kerry Packer breakaway and the Stanford fiasco, into fresh context and, along the way, assesses great players including Jack Hobbs, Wally Hammond, Ian Botham and James Anderson, examining the key figures who shaped the team for good or ill, from Plum Warner and Gubby Allen to Ray Illingworth, Tony Greig and Duncan Fletcher.

Making extensive use of MCC archives, this book chronicles the crises and cock-ups that have often dogged the side, as well as uncovering the origins of the cult of the Three Lions.