Cricket literature

Posted by Tony Hutton

I don't suppose it will surprise anyone that the majority of my reading during the long winter months has been cricket related. However I do have various other interests and have greatly enjoyed reading about Britain's best railways and also the story of John Holmes, Leeds rugby league legend. In between times I have also made good progress with my association football blog covering every match I saw between 1946 and 1980 (Grandad's football blog) having just reached 1978, so the end is in sight.

The first cricket book I read this winter was a very scholarly volume by historian Jeremy Lonsdale, who I also had the pleasure to hear speaking about his book at Leeds Central Library. 'A Game Taken Seriously' researches the origins of the game in Yorkshire leading to the formation of the Yorkshire County cricket club in the later years of the 19th century. What a fascinating and long drawn out story it is. You might say history repeats itself as the arguments between the different parts of the county, before the county club was formed, are somewhat similar to the disputes of more recent years.

 Much of the research is from local newspapers of the time and the quotations are expertly indexed at the back of the book. Interestingly the early days of the county side were dominated by Sheffield and it took some time to remove their monopoly. Cricket in the Leeds area was a late development and took some time to get going even at club level. Dalton and Lascelles Hall were the top sides in the Huddersfield area in the early days of the nineteenth century but in North Yorkshire cricket was recorded in Knaresborough as early as the 1790s.

Ripon was also a prominent club soon after that together with Harewood, Kirby Malzeard and Yarm.
The tiny village of Scruton, between Northallerton and Bedale also started very early and still have a team in the Wensleydale Evening league to this day. My fellow-blogger, John Winn, will be interested to learn that Knaresborough played against a combined Whixley, Hammerton, Ouseburn and Nun Monkton side in 1814.

Next on the list was one of the Association of Cricket Statisticians Lives in Cricket Series. This is the story of Enid Bakewell, probably England's most successful women's cricketer. The story of the coalminer's daughter from Nottinghamshire is well told by Simon Sweetman, but is handicapped by the lack of statistical records of Enid's all round performances at club level for many years. Apparently records of such games are impossible to find. However her performances for England both at home and abroad are well documented as well as her ability to juggle her family life at the same time. Recognition of her achievements has perhaps come late in life but having heard her speak to the ACS a couple of years ago, you could not wish to meet a more modest and pleasant lady.

Another in the same series is on former England and Warwickshire captain M.J.K. Smith, described as 'No Ordinary Man'. Again a wonderful story of the man who played for England at both cricket and rugby union and was well respected by everyone he met. The author, Douglas Miller, has done an excellent job, as he did with Jack Bond, the former Lancashire captain, some years ago. The book is very well written and again has been researched admirably by talking to team-mates and opponents in equal number. Mike Smith has always been happy to talk to cricket lovers at cricket societies throughout the country and is still doing an excellent job as President of the ACS.

Two further volumes have arrived in the post today. The invaluable county second eleven annual, now edited by Andrew Hignall, has changed it's format somewhat in that players 'who's who' details are not listed under individual counties but in A-Z format altogether. This may not be to everyone's taste but this publication is an essential reference book for all professional cricket watchers.

Finally, the star of the show without question is the substantial Cumberland county cricket yearbook for 2019 edited as ever by Michael Latham. For me, and I am sure for every cricket lover, it is almost impossible to put down before going through the whole book. Michael's brilliant photographs of cricket grounds have recently appeared in the Cricketer Magazine feature 'Worship the grounds' and many more are in the Cumberland yearbook. It is a real treasure trove of pictures of Minor Counties and club grounds throughout Cumbria and an inspiration to all ground hoppers amongst us to go that extra mile.