The 146th edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack recounts a year when cricket was turned on its head. The Twenty20 revolution threatened the established order, as the IPL exploded onto the scene with the Stanford $20 million match muscling in later on. Meanwhile England managed to lose three captains and a coach within six months. And as the next Ashes series looms, both England and Australia lost consecutive Test series away to India and home to South Africa.

In such hectic times the cricket-lover – more than ever – needs Wisden to make sense of it all. As usual it offers insight, inside information and a little contemplative calm.

· David Foot reveals why the new Twenty20 tournaments can trace their lineage back almost 80 years to Stinchcombe, in Gloucestershire

· Michael Vaughan reflects on his England captaincy, while Mike Atherton recalls Kevin Pietersen’s eventful reign. Simon Barnes wonders why it always ends in tears

· A captain, a Kolpak and a colt tell their stories from the 2008 season

· David Frith analyses Ashes masters of the past

· Matthew Engel on how the schedule became a shambles

· Nasser Hussain assesses the feats of Mark Ramprakash and Graeme Hick

· Dean Wilson ponders the disappearance of England’s Afro-Caribbean cricketers

PLUS Wisden reports from the Arctic, scene of yet another England defeat; Romania, where the Transylvanian Impalers take on all-comers; and Samoa, where heavy bats and light fingers guarantee a shortage of balls

AND Wisden announces its first World Test XI