Cricket enthusiasts and old hands buy Wisden Cricketer

The Wisden Cricketer magazine has been sold to a group of cricket enthusiast by BSkyB for an undisclosed sum.

The group, which already owns Testmatchextra.com, includes BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, MCC president Christopher Martin-Jenkins and TV analyst Simon Hughes.

Former Tory party treasurer Lord Marland and former Leicestershire chairman Neil Davidson are also members of the group which took control of the magazine on Wednesday.

The magazine, which was launched in 2003 following the merger of The Cricketer and Wisden Cricket Monthly is Britain’s biggest selling cricket title. BSkyB bought the title in 2007.

Last year it averaged a monthly circulation of 32,599, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Editor John Stern and his staff will remain in place in their Victoria offices, while Andrew Bordiss, former deputy editor of the Evening Standard, is the title’s new managing director.

Bordiss said: ‘The Wisden Cricketer speaks with an independent and authoritative voice.

‘We will merge this impressive magazine operation with the Test Match Extra website, which features brilliant commentators such as Jonathan Agnew and Christopher Martin-Jenkins, and create the definitive media platform for English cricket.

‘Cricket is currently top of the sporting agenda, with the Ashes series in Australia captivating the nation during a cold winter. The Wisden Cricketer is the perfect companion to this traditional, enduring and evolving game.

‘We are all thrilled to acquire this handsome adornment to our game.”