While cricket remains hugely popular with all age groups today, at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, it was the national game. In Final Wicket the author, Nigel McCrery, has researched the lives, sporting careers and deaths of 275 top class cricketers who made the ultimate sacrifice between August 1914 and the end of 1918. This includes fourteen men who all played for Cambridge University, among which are Second Lieutenant

Arthur Horace Lang, Lieutenant Eric Frank Penn, Captain Cyril Rattigan and Second Lieutenant Logie Colin Leggatt. Arthur Horace Lang made twenty-two first class appearances for Cambridge University and died at Cuinchy in 1915. His former school friend, Geoffrey Hopley, who was also killed a little later in the war, described his feelings for Lang: 'None could know him well without a deep affection for the loyalty of his nature, the quiet sense of humour, and above all for his simple unquestioning obedience to duty whenever duty called. '

Lieutenant Eric Frank Penn also made twenty-two first class appearances for Cambridge and was killed at Hohenzollern in 1915.  One of his brother officers has this to say about him: 'He was an exceptionally fine company commander and his men would have done anything for him.' Captain Cyril Stanley Rattigan, who made six first class appearances for Cambridge, was killed by a sniper in 1916 while attempting to help another wounded soldier reach safety. A brother officer noted, 'By his death I have lost one of the finest friends I have ever had.' Only playing in one first class match in 1914, Second Lieutenant Logie Colin Leggatt was killed in action at Pilckem Ridge in 1917, the same day as the beginning of the Battle of Pesschendaele. He was the nephew of famous female racing driver Muriel Thompson, who never fully recovered from Logie's death. 

Recalling the incredible sacrifice of 100 years ago, this evocative book, which follows on from the best-selling Into Touch - Rugby Internationals Killed in The Great War, is a must-read for any sporting or military history enthusiast.