The most famous cricket match in literature must surely be one written about a village game some time between the wars.

AG Macdonell, an otherwise obscure author, included it in his book England, Their England, published in 1933.

It is a classic English essay brilliantly evoking the atmosphere of a match in a sleepy village with each player a local character.

Macdonell is said to have based it on a team of literary notables led by JC Squire, editor of the London Mercury, who formed their own team. The characters include versions of Squire himself, Evelyn Waugh’s novelist brother Alec, and JB Morton who wrote Beachcomber in the Daily Express.

Although the book says the match was played in Kent, Macdonell is believed to have been inspired by a game at Rodmell near Lewes.

The description of what happens in the field when a ball is hit high into the air covers several pages and is one of the best sustained pieces of comic writing in English.

Although Macdonell wrote several other books showing his wry sense of humour, none ever reached the popularity of England, Their England and he died when only in his 40s.

Another minor masterpiece simply called The Cricket Match by Hugh de Selincourt was written in 1924. It is supposed to be about a game between Tillingfold and Raverley.

Tillingfold was a thinly disguised version of Storrington and the captain was de Selincourt, who also carried out that role in real life. He portrayed several other members of the village team affectionately in the book.

De Selincourt took up village cricket late when he moved to nearby Thakeham and his gardener persuaded him to join the Storrington side.

He had trouble in getting the book published but when he did so it was an immediate success and was followed by two more with village cricket as a theme. Journalist John Parker wrote a sequel to it 50 years later in 1977 called The Village Cricket Match.

It again features Tillingfold and shows how many of the characters have moved on, or in some cases, died. Rivals Raverley include several players from other countries in their side.

Parker was a good player himself and was always passionate about cricket. Nothing gave him greater pleasure than the success of his son Paul who played for Sussex.

SPB Mais was another cricket-loving writer who was also a prolific journalist but he is best remembered in his home town of Southwick for what he did rather than his writing.

Mais, who lived opposite the Green, was angry when the council decided to ban cricket there because it was dangerous for passers by.

He successfully flouted the ban by arranging a match there and achieved enormous publicity for it. Then he refused to pay his rates until the ban was rescinded.

The council prosecuted him and won, forcing Mais to leave Southwick for Shoreham. But within a year the council changed complexion and allowed cricket on the green once again. It is played there to this day.

Mais wrote more than 100 books, several mentioning Sussex and with frequent references to cricket.

Now that the season is ending, cricket lovers could do worse than read some of these books to keep a memory of happy summer days throughout the winter.