Free vs Paid Cricket Audiobooks: Are the Free Options Worth Your Time?

This is a comparison of free cricket audiobooks against paid ones, and the honest answer is that they are not really competing. The free options are podcasts and they are genuinely good. The paid options are books, and there is no free version of a book.

What you give up by not paying is not analysis or entertainment. It is the specific category of long-form teaching material: the nine-hour book on the rules of club cricket, the twelve-hour collection of stories from an umpire who spent fifty years watching it, the three-hour book that explains how a cricketer actually learns. Nobody is putting those on a podcast for free, and nobody should.

What you give up by paying for a subscription when the free options would have done the job is a subscription fee. So the practical question is narrower than it sounds: what are you trying to get, and does it need to be a book? Everything below was checked against Audible’s catalogue before publishing.

The facts

What it covers

The Analyst Inside Cricket

The Analyst Inside Cricket is a podcast, and it is free to listen on Audible. Simon Hughes, the former Middlesex bowler, works through matches with the BBC’s Simon Mann and former England wicketkeeper, and it is analysis with a proper technical vocabulary rather than opinion with a microphone.

If your question is how to keep thinking about cricket between matches, this is the best of the free options by some distance. Simon Hughes has been explaining cricket on television for years, and the podcast is the same thinking with time to spend on it.

It is also episodic, which is what makes it fit. Twenty minutes on the way to work is a better unit than three hours on a Saturday.

Hosted by Simon Hughes. Listen on Audible

The Final Word Cricket Podcast

The Final Word is hosted by Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins and calls itself a friendly guide to the world’s strangest sport. It is irreverent enough to be funny and serious enough to be worth the time.

The disagreement is what makes it worth the time. Two people who both know the game well, disagreeing with each other and respecting each other, is a better model for how to think about cricket than most books offer.

Free, and episodic, and the one to try first if you have never listened to a cricket podcast.

Hosted by Adam Collins Geoff Lemon. Listen on Audible

The Edges & Sledges Cricket Podcast

The Edges & Sledges is an Indian cricket podcast focused on Indian cricket and the IPL, hosted by three hardcore cricket fans. Free to listen.

If you want the Indian domestic and franchise game rather than international cricket, this is the one. It has the particular value of being from people who watch every game rather than the highlights.

Worth trying if the other two leave you cold. Different voices attract different listeners and this is the most distinct of the three.

Hosted by Edges & Sledges. Listen on Audible

Sky Sports Cricket Podcast

The Sky Sports Cricket Podcast is hosted by Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain, with guests from across the game, and it is free to listen. Atherton is a former England captain and a current broadcaster, and Hussain is a former England captain who has spent twenty years in the commentary box.

The format is closer to a television current affairs programme than a fan show, and the interviews are the reason to listen. A former captain explaining a decision in their own words is worth more than any amount of analysis.

If you want to hear experienced players talk about the parts of the job nobody sees, this is the best free option.

Hosted by Sky Sports. Listen on Audible

The Mindset Mentor

The Mindset Mentor is a podcast hosted by Rob Dial, aimed at anyone wanting motivation, direction and focus. It is not a cricket podcast and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

It is on this list because it is free, it is well produced, and it covers habit and focus territory that the cricket podcasts do not. If your interest is the mental side rather than the game, it is worth a couple of episodes.

If you want cricket, the other four are better. This one earns its place by being a good podcast rather than a cricket one.

Hosted by Rob Dial. Listen on Audible

The Tim Ferriss Show

The Tim Ferriss Show is a long-running interview podcast, and it is not about cricket. It is on this list for a specific reason: it is the best free example of how a good interviewer gets a detailed answer out of someone who does not usually give them.

For a cricketer or a coach who has to ask a question properly, that is a transferable skill, and it is easier to absorb by hearing someone else do it well.

Free, and the episodes run long, which makes it a good companion to a long drive rather than a short session.

Hosted by Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author Human Guinea Pig. Listen on Audible

The Grade Cricketer

The Grade Cricketer is a comedy about Australian club cricket written and read by Sam Perry and Ian Higgins. Three hours and forty-seven minutes, published in 2025, and it is the best-written cricket book we have found on Audible.

What makes it worth paying for is not the jokes. It is that the two authors have spent their lives inside club cricket and take it seriously as a sport that people actually play. The affection is real, and the picture of the game underneath it is accurate in a way that commentary rarely manages.

The chapters are short and self-contained, so it works as a book to dip into, which is how most people will end up reading it.

Read by Sam Perry and Ian Higgins · Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd. Listen on Audible

The Rules of Backyard Cricket

The Rules of Backyard Cricket is a novel by Jock Serong, narrated by Rupert Degas, and it is about an Australian sporting star of the bad-boy variety who ends up, years later, in the boot of a car. Nine hours and four minutes.

Cricket is the backdrop rather than the subject, which is why it is more interesting than a cricket novel that is actually about cricket. It is a book about friendship, failure and the version of your life you did not plan.

The one on this list most likely to be finished by someone who does not otherwise read.

Read by Rupert Degas · Wavesound from W. F. Howes Ltd. Listen on Audible

White Cap and Bails

White Cap and Bails is Dickie Bird’s second book, a collection of stories from fifty years of umpiring county cricket. Twelve and a half hours, read by Graham Roberts, published by Hodder & Stoughton.

It is the easiest title here to listen to for hours, because the stories are short and there is no argument to keep track of. Every one of them ends somewhere different.

There is also a chapter that every cricketer reads differently depending on their age, about a decision going against you and what you do next. It is worth finding.

Read by Graham Roberts · Hodder & Stoughton. Listen on Audible

The Art of Mental Training

The Art of Mental Training is by the performance coach D. C. Gonzalez, read by the author, and at two hours and fifty-seven minutes it is the shortest serious title here. It is a manual rather than an argument, which is why it suits an audio edition.

Preparation, focus, the days it goes wrong, and drills you can work through yourself. Nothing in it is specific to cricket, and it does not need to be.

If you are going to spend money on one audiobook and want it finished in a fortnight, this is the one. It is also the book most people can try for the price of a coffee during a free trial.

Read by D. C. Gonzalez · GonzoLane Media. Listen on Audible

Who it is for, and who it is not

This is for anyone deciding whether an Audible subscription is worth it for cricket, or whether the free podcasts will do. The short answer is that the free options are good enough for most people who want to keep up with the game, and the paid ones are worth it if you want to learn something rather than follow it.

It is also for a cricketer on a tight budget. Between the free podcasts, the Audible free trial, and library lending apps, the honest cost of a decent audio cricket habit is lower than most people assume.

How to get the most from it

Start with the free options for a month before you pay for anything. If you are not listening to podcasts by the end of that month, a subscription will not fix it.

Use the free trial for the books. Audible offers 30 days free to new members, and Amazon Prime members have been able to take two free audiobooks during that trial, which is enough to test the format properly on two full titles.

Check the library as well. Lending apps such as Libby and OverDrive let you borrow audiobooks free once you have a library card, and whether a given cricket title is in stock varies by region but the catalogue is wider than most people assume.

Do not cancel and rejoin to game the trial. It is not worth the trouble, and the pricing changes often enough that a stale figure from a forum is worse than useless.

• Listen free for a month first: the habit matters more than the catalogue.
• Use the trial for books: podcasts do not need a subscription, books do.
• Borrow from the library too: the catalogue is wider than people think.
• Check the current price before you subscribe: the plans change regularly.
• Set a reminder before the trial ends: the renewal is automatic.

Common questions

What is the best free cricket podcast?

It depends what you want. The Analyst Inside Cricket is the best for technical analysis and the sharpest thinking about the game. The Sky Sports Cricket Podcast is the best for hearing experienced players explain their own decisions, with Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain hosting. The Edges & Sledges is the best for Indian cricket and the IPL. All three are free to listen to on Audible with no subscription required.

Do I need Audible for cricket audiobooks?

For the podcasts, no. Audible’s podcasts are free to listen to whether or not you have a membership. For the books, yes, they are Audible titles and they sit behind the catalogue. The third option is your library’s lending app, which will often have a cricket title in audio if the print edition is in stock.

Is the Audible free trial worth it?

Yes, if you would buy one book anyway. Audible normally offers 30 days free to new members, and Amazon Prime members have been able to take two free audiobooks during that trial, so you can test the format on two full titles rather than a sample. Remember that the membership renews automatically at the end of the trial unless you cancel it.

How much does Audible cost?

Audible’s US plans currently range from about 7.95 a month at the entry level through a mid tier at roughly 14.95 with a credit and extra features, to a top plan at about 22.95 that carries two credits a month and unlimited listening. Those figures move with promotions, so check Audible’s own pricing page on the day you sign up rather than trusting a number you read on a forum months ago.

Is it worth paying for a book I will only listen to once?

Less often than the industry would like, and the honest answer is that the subscription model assumes you will listen to several books and cancel the ones you do not finish. The titles here that repay one listen are the ones with ideas you will use repeatedly, such as The Art of Mental Training. The ones that are pure pleasure, like White Cap and Bails, are worth it once and are also the kind of thing a library lends happily.

Written by the CricketGearGuru editorial team. Every title above was checked against Audible’s own catalogue on the day this page was published, so the narrator, the running time and the edition are the current ones. The links are affiliate links, so we may earn a commission if you buy through them at no extra cost to you.