It has to be a unique distinction to be nominated in the same year for the Man Booker Prize and the Cricket Society's Book of the Year. Samuel Beckett or Harold Pinter might have managed it if they had got round to writing a cricket book, or Arthur Conan Doyle if there had been a Cricket Society in the days when he was limiting the cricket references in his novels to names such as Mycroft. (William Mycroft, you will recall, took 90 wickets for Derbyshire in 1875 at 7.37 runs each). But Joseph O'Neill, author of the novel Netherland, will discover at Lord's this evening if he is to be the recipient of the £3,000 prize made possible by a new partnership with MCC.

O'Neill, who has travelled from the United States for the presentation to the winning author cleared the first hurdle when his novel was deemed by the judging panel to be a “cricket” book. As much about loneliness and the crisis of a marriage in the wake of 9/11, it is also a first-hand portrayal of the game as it is played in New York. It follows the friendship between the narrator, a Dutch cricket enthusiast, and the enigmatic Trinidadian who dreams of building a cricket stadium in the Big Apple. It may be less racy than the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but it is more accessible than any of the works of Beckett or the plays of Pinter, whose most concise work was his 11-word poem on Len Hutton.

Whether or not they have read Waiting for Godot (or seen Sir Ian McKellen leading the all-star production of the play in London) all cricket quiz specialists know Beckett as the only man both to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature and to have played a game of first-class cricket. Dublin University's all-rounder chose to write his novels in French and then translate them into English, which may be beyond the powers of John Barclay, but as a cricketer he could not tie the laces of the former Sussex captain.

For 20 years Barclay has given most of his time to helping underprivileged youngsters in his role as director of the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation. From the days when, as a talented but highly strung schoolboy, he would retreat to an airing cupboard to contemplate his cricketing responsibilities, he has mixed extroverted charm with intense personal analysis, making something of an art form of self-deprecation.

Like O'Neill, perhaps in his life experience much more than O'Neill, he knows about loneliness as well as days in the sun and to that extent the whimsical reminiscences of his cricket career in Life Beyond The Airing Cupboard echo those of Marcus Trescothick's recent successful autobiography, overlooked mainly, no doubt, because it was ghosted.

The ups and downs of life were well known also by Albert Craig, the “captain of the crowd” celebrated in Tony Laughton's assiduously researched and vividly illustrated biography. Craig, the “Surrey Poet” was a self-appointed character who would entertain crowds at football and, especially, cricket matches in the late 19th century with his folksy verses, celebrating the great players of the day. Swapping repartee with spectators like a music hall entertainer, he was a popular figure on big occasions at grounds such as Canterbury, Hove and the Oval.

William Buckland's withering analysis of the failings of contemporary English professional cricket, and his critical comparison with the Australian ideal that demonstrably, and for several reasons, works better, beat 11 other nominations on a list judged by an erudite but eclectic panel under the chairmanship of Eric Midwinter, the eminent social and cricket historian.

The Cricket Society, founded in 1945, encourages a love of cricket through playing, watching, reading and listening. It supports young cricketers, holds regular meetings for members in a variety of locations in England and Wales, publishes an excellent journal and has its own cricket team. Its literary award was inaugurated in 1970 and the partnership with MCC, which has for years been guarding and nurturing the game's art and literature, lends added prestige to an award that will be announced before an expected audience of 180. E. W. Swanton, Mike Brearley and David Frith are among 41 previous winners.

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