Everybody who paid attention at the time knows that English cricket was a joke in the 1990s. Humiliation followed humiliation; scandal followed scandal; batting collapse followed bowling failure. The joke went round that the only difference between English wickets and buses was that you didn't have to wait for the wickets. They just came all at once anyway.

But then, towards the end of that decade, when Cool Britannia was all the rage, something happened. Or rather several things happened, and together they conspired to turn England from wooden spoons to world beaters. The appointment of Ian MacLaurin to run the England and Wales Cricket Board was a masterstroke: his leadership and rigour were magnificent, and he oversaw the introduction of central contracts for England players.

Equally significant, Nasser Hussain and Duncan Fletcher came together, as captain and coach, to instil a level of discipline and ambition in the England set up that had been absent for perhaps a decade. They defeated defeatism. But perhaps the most neglected aspect of England's renaissance in that decade was the televisual revolution brought about by Channel 4's broadcasting of cricket rights. That revolution was personified by Mark Nicholas.

I remember very distinctly, growing up in that decade and watching cricket fanatically, that the ECB were open about their desire to find a familiar, friendly personality to be the face of the game on television. In Nicholas they struck gold: someone who married dexterity and aplomb as a broadcaster with a professional past in the game and, above all, the irrepressible love and affection of a true fan. Fans of cricket don't come by halves. We are nuts, every one of us. But perhaps especially Nicholas.

It is that irrepressibility that comes across in his hugely enjoyable book, A Beautiful Game. Nicholas explains how the death of his father prompted him to throw himself into playing sport, and cricket specifically: how he found meaning, and learned his values, on the playing fields of village clubs and then across the county scene.

Nicholas was very nearly offered the captaincy of England, but instead ended up playing for England A, a kind of glorious Second XI, and he recounts his flirtations and frustrations with the top level of the game honestly. In a sense, the fact that Nicholas didn't have a long career in Test matches for England, while a sadness for him, is a huge advantage for the reader, because he approaches the game not with the holier-than-thou pomposity of a true cricketing great, but rather the accessible decency of someone who realises how privileged he has been to play to a professional level.

This, together with the conversational nature of the writing - Nicholas writes like he speaks, full of camaraderie, quips, jollity and English pluck - make the book a kind of fantasy guided tour of the past 30 years in the game, which happens to have been a golden age blessed by many legends and outstanding sides.

There are chapters on the hard yakka of the county circuit; on the best bowlers and batsmen he has faced in the middle and the nets; on making it as a media personality; and (a great indulgence for me, as a spin bowling obsessive) facing Shane Warne in the nets while staying with the Australian leg-spinner in Melbourne. All of these passages are written with a verve that give you a sense of being there with Nicholas.

As with all cricket books, there is a ready supply of anecdotage which varnishes every other page. But in my view the most affecting chapter concerns the monumental, sad but ultimately heroic endeavours of the Smith brothers.

Robin and Chris Smith were two of the most talented men ever to pick up a bat, and Nicholas grew close to them at Hampshire CCC, much as he grew close to the great West Indian fast bowler Malcolm Marshall. Robin played many times for England, a dashingly handsome player in every respect, whose appeal to many women helped make him something of a party animal. But little known to those of my vintage, he took to the bottle with a harrowing constancy when his playing days were over, so much so that he sank into both addiction and depression, and moved to Australia.

The glamour of sport at the top level is such that we often think little, as fans and followers of the game, of what happens to those who don't quite make it, or who are sullied by fatal flaws, or who - quite naturally - find the idea of retiring at 35 profoundly discombobulating. It was impossible not to be very moved by Nicholas's recollection of a reunion dinner he had with the Smith brothers, in which they toasted their good fortune in life, regaled each other with tales of cricketing derring do, and drank to Robin's thankfully now improving health.

Great Sporting Moments: Cricket Show all 10 1 /10 Great Sporting Moments: Cricket Great Sporting Moments: Cricket GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 1.Bradman's final duck, The Oval, 14 August 1948

Cheered to the crease by fans and players for his final Test innings, Donald Bradman needed only four more runs for an average of 100. Facing leg-spinner Eric Hollies, Bradman blocked his first ball but was bowled by his second; one of only 44 Test wickets in Hollies's career. Bradman slowly returned to the pavilion - still the greatest, but bowing out on an almost tragic note. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 2. Jim Laker takes 19 wickets in one test, Old Trafford, 31 July 1956

Another shot at statistical perfection that fell just short. After England had scored 459, Laker took 9-37 as the Australians were bowled out for 84; then, as the tourists followed on, Laker outdid himself, taking 10-53 on a dramatic final evening. England won by an innings and 170 runs, while Laker's off-breaks had earned him the miraculous match figures of 19-90. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 3. Viv Richards mauls England, The Oval, 13 August, 1976

Before the series, England captain Tony Greig spoke of his intention to make the West Indies 'grovel'. But it was the hosts who were humiliated by the touring side. Viv Richards hit 232 in the drawn first Test, while the West Indies won the third and fourth to take the series. But at the Oval Richards hit an unforgettable 291, having been 200 not out at stumps on day one. He scored 38 fours, induced several pitch invasions, and looked well set to break Gary Sobers's Test record of 365 before he was bowled by Greig. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 4. Shane Warne's 'Ball of the century', Old Trafford, 4 June, 1993

Few people in England knew anything about Shane Warne when he came in to begin his first over on the second day of the First Test in the 1993 Ashes series. His first ball drifted well outside Mike Gatting's leg stump, then turned so sharply that it missed both bat and pad to clip the bail on the off side. Gatting took some time to walk, being unable to believe his eyes. A star had been born, and a renaissance in spin bowling had been set in motion. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 5. Brian Lara scores 400 not out, Antigua, 12 April, 2004

Having allowed Matthew Hayden to hold the Test score record for six months, Brian Lara seized it back with a monumental innings at Antigua Recreation Ground in St. John's. It was in the same stadium that he had claimed the record in 10 years earlier (with an innnings of 375) and against the same opponents - England. Meanwhile, his wider first class record - 501 not out - remained intact. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 6. England win the second Ashes test , Edgbaston, 7 august, 2005

A Test match of unparalleled tension, culminating in an impossibly dramatic finale. When Brett Lee hit Steve Harmison through the offside two balls before the tenth wicket fell he almost won the Test for the Australians. At two-nil down England would have needed three straight wins to regain the Ashes. But the ball was cut off, Lee took only a single and Kasprowicz was left on strike, needing three runs. He gloved Harmison to Jones, and England were level. Amid the celebrations, Andrew Flintoff found the time to console brett Lee GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 7. Colin Cowdrey saves England with a broken arm, Lord's, 25 June, 1963

In a tightly contested Lord's test, England began the final over with numbers 10 and 11 at the crease. Then Len Shackleton was run out, with two balls remaining. Out came Cowdrey, who had retired hurt earlier after having his arm broken by a ball from Wes Hall - and the draw was saved. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 8. Sobers hits six sixes in an over swansea, 31 August, 1968

The bowler was Glamorgan's Malcolm Nash. The batsman was Nottinghamshire's Gary Sobers, arguably the greatest all-rounder of all time. Sobers hit the first five balls of Nash's over for clean sixes; the sixth was caught on the boundary but carried over - making the first class game's first ever perfect 36. GETTY IMAGES Great Sporting Moments: Cricket 9. Mike Atherton v Allan Donald, Trent Bridge, 26 July, 1998

With the Fourth Test of South Africa's 1998 tour closely balanced, Donald, one of the great fast bowlers, unleashed a spell of terrifying ferocity. Atherton, struggling to see the ball in the final session of play, was none the less immovable - even when Donald thought he had edged a catch behind. Donald responded with a combination of four-letter abuse and terrifying bouncers, but Atherton survived until the close, and by the time Donald had him caught at square leg the next morning, the moment had been lost. England won by eight wickets. GETTY IMAGES