The Cricket Society

The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has more than 2000 members in the United Kingdom and the cricket playing countries of the world. Its current President is John Barclay.

Activities

The Wetherall Awards began in 1967 and presently continue in four separate categories:[1]

  • Leading all-rounder in English first-class game
  • Leading Young All-Rounder in the English First-Class Game
  • Leading all-rounder in Schools cricket
  • Leading all-rounder at Repton School

The Cricket Society instigated an Annual Book of the Year Award in 1970 that now, in association with the MCC, hosts an Awards Evening in the Long Room at Lord's each spring.[2]

Throughout the winter months, The Society holds monthly meetings, featuring famous names from cricket, for members and guests at the Royal Overseas League in Park Place, London SW1.

Through its charitable trust, it raises money to coach underprivileged children in the skills of cricket. They link up with various organisations such as the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation to achieve these aims.

The Society has a cricket team which plays at a number of venues each season. It also holds monthly meetings for the members in London (as detailed above), Bath, Birmingham and Durham at which invited speakers address the audience. These activities are held to maintain an interest in cricket and both inform and entertain its members and guests through the off-season.

The Cricket Society publishes a journal, bi-annually and a regular news bulletin, 8 times per year, for its subscribed membership.

The Society commissioned E.W. Padwick to compile a comprehensive bibliography of cricket literature under the title A Bibliography of Cricket. The first edition, published in 1977 by the Library Association had 8,294 entries.[3] A revised edition, published in 1984, extended this to over 10,000 entries ( ISBN 978-0853659020). A second volume, published in 1991 as Padwick's Bibliography of Cricket, Volume 2, was compiled by Stephen Eley and Peter Griffiths and covers works published between 1980 and 1990 ( ISBN 978-0853655282).

The Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year

The Cricket Society began naming a book of the year in 1970. Since 2009 the award has been made in partnership with MCC.[4] It carries a prize of £3000, which is presented at an awards evening each spring in the Long Room at Lord's.[5]

  • 1970: "My Dear Victorious Stod": A Biography of A. E. Stoddart by David Frith
  • 1971: Nottinghamshire Cricketers 1821–1914 by Peter Wynne-Thomas
  • 1972: Thanks to Cricket by J. M. Kilburn
  • 1973: Sort of a Cricket Person by E. W. Swanton
  • 1974: The Story of Warwickshire Cricket 1882–1972 by Leslie Duckworth
  • 1975: Learie Constantine by Gerald Howat
  • 1976: On Top Down Under: Australia's Cricket Captains by Ray Robinson
  • 1977: Spinner's Yarn by Ian Peebles
  • 1978: Sir Donald Bradman: A Biography by Irving Rosenwater
  • 1979: The Best Loved Game by Geoffrey Moorhouse
  • 1980: Barclay's World of Cricket by E. W. Swanton and John Woodcock
  • 1981: P. G. H. Fender: A Biography by Richard Streeton
  • 1982: Phoenix from the Ashes by Mike Brearley
  • 1983: Australian Cricket: The Game and the Players by Jack Pollard
  • 1984: C.B.: The Life of Charles Burgess Fry by Clive Ellis
  • 1985: The Art of Captaincy by Mike Brearley
  • 1986: Hedley Verity: A Portrait of a Cricketer by Alan Hill
  • 1987: Pageant of Cricket by David Frith
  • 1988: The Players: A Social History of the Professional Cricketer by Ric Sissons
  • 1989: A La Recherche du Cricket Perdu by Simon Barnes
  • 1990: History of Indian Cricket by Mihir Bose
  • 1991: Herbert Sutcliffe: Cricket Maestro by Alan Hill
  • 1992: England Expects: A Biography of Ken Barrington by Mark Peel
  • 1993: Beyond Bat & Ball by David Foot
  • 1994: Arlott: The Authorised Biography by David Rayvern Allen
  • 1995: David Gower: A Man Out of Time by Rob Steen
  • 1996: Bradman: An Australian Hero by Charles Williams
  • 1997: The Glory Days of Cricket: The Extraordinary Story of Broadhalfpenny Down by Ashley Mote
  • 1998: The Chronicle of W. G. by J. R. Webber; W. G. Grace: A Life by Simon Rae
  • 1999: The Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
  • 2000: Mystery Spinner: The Story of Jack Iverson by Gideon Haigh
  • 2001: At the Heart of English Cricket: The Life and Memories of Geoffrey Howard by Stephen Chalke
  • 2002: A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport by Ramachandra Guha
  • 2003: The Ross Gregory Story by David Frith
  • 2004: Jim: The Life of E. W. Swanton by David Rayvern Allen
  • 2005: Red Shirts and Roses by Eric Midwinter
  • 2006: Cricket's Burning Passion: Ivo Bligh and the Story of the Ashes by Scyld Berry and Rupert Peploe
  • 2007: George Lohmann: Pioneer Professional by Keith Booth
  • 2008: No award with this date. Before 2008 the award was for books published in the year of the award; after 2008 the award was for books published the previous year.
  • 2009: Life Beyond the Airing Cupboard by John Barclay
  • 2010: Of Didcot and the Demon: The Cricketing Times of Alan Gibson by Anthony Gibson
  • 2011: Slipless in Settle by Harry Pearson
  • 2012: Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography by Chris Waters
  • 2013: On Warne by Gideon Haigh
  • 2014: The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption and the Turbulent Rise of Modern India by James Astill
  • 2015: Field of Shadows: The English Cricket Tour of Nazi Germany 1937 by Dan Waddell
  • 2016: Fire in Babylon by Simon Lister
  • 2017: A Beautiful Game: My Love Affair with Cricket by Mark Nicholas
  • 2018: Connie: The Marvellous Life of Learie Constantine by Harry Pearson

Current officers

Executive committee

  • Chairman Nigel Hancock
  • Vice Chairman Phil Reeves
  • Secretary Derek Barnard
  • Treasurer Phil Reeves
  • Howard Milton
  • John Symons
  • Tom Carmichael
  • Nick Tudball
  • Andrew Cashmore-Till

Presidents since 1945

• 1945-1946 F. A. Mackinnon, The Mackinnon of Mackinnon
• 1947-1959 Hubert Preston
• 1960-1961 H. S. Altham
• 1961-1962 Lord Birkett
• 1963-1968 A. A. Thomson
• 1969-1973 Lt-Gen Sir Oliver Leese
• 1974-1975 A. M. Crawley
• 1976-1983 E. W. Swanton
• 1983-1998 G. H. G. Doggart
• 1998-2008 C. D. A. Martin-Jenkins
• 2008-onwards J. R. T. Barclay

Chairmen since 1945

• 1945-1946 A. Weigall
• 1946-1947 Capt. J. A. Bayliss
• 1947-1953 G. A. Copinger
• 1953-1960 A. R. Whitaker
• 1960-1965 Dr R. W. Cockshut
• 1965-1966 L. E. S. Gutteridge
• 1966-1983 C. C. W. Box-Grainger
• 1983-1992 R. N. Haygarth
• 1992-2003 D. Allsop
• 2003-2008 W. R. Allen
• 2008 I. R. Jackson
• 2008-2012 D. E. Barnard
• 2012 onwards Nigel Hancock

References

  1. ↑ "The Cricket Society - Awards". The Cricket Society. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Barclay's World of Cricket - 2nd Edition, 1980, Collins Publishers, ISBN 0-00-216349-7, p588
  4. ↑ "The Cricket Society/MCC Book of the Year". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "Book of the Year shortlist announced". MCC. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "People". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
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