CRICKET
Tuesday 18th April saw the start of the 2006 Cricket County Championship. Whatever your level of playing, it is time to shake the mud from your boots, whiten your pads, wear three layers of sweater and dream again of glory with bat and ball. For armchair cricketers April sees the publication of the twin harbingers of summer, the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack and the Playfair Cricket Annual.
The ghost of W. G. Grace stands like a colossus at the crease of cricket history, every player since will be judged against the giant shadow cast. Where better to measure contemporary players against the great man than in John Wisden’s eponymous Cricketers’ Almanack, the other Victorian institution that still dominates our national summer game. The 2006 edition was published on 12th April marking 143 continuous annual publications since 1864. ‘Wisden 2006, the 143rd edition’, includes coverage of every first-class game in every cricket nation, with reports and scorecards for all Test matches and One Day Internationals. This latest edition contains more feature articles and more colour photographs than ever before, as well as a special section on the 2005 Ashes. In addition the editor, Matthew Engel, chooses five Cricketers of the Year who made notable contributions to the game during last season. In 1896 there was just the one name; W. G. Grace.
Wisdens not only attract the attention of cricket fans but are now also highly collectable – a complete collection can fetch in excess of £30,000. After the very early editions the most sought after are ‘1916’ which included Grace’s obituary and ‘1919’ which included the roll call of cricketers lost in the Great War. This year, for the first time, Wisden is also available in an additional limited edition large format, about twice normal size; each volume individually numbered and packaged in a presentation slipcase.
Wisden weighs in over 1,500 pages long – a veritable brick. Bill Frindall’s ‘Playfair Cricket Annual’ is the cheap and cheerful option to carry to the match in your bait box. You still get the highlights of the 2005 season, full stats on all first class players and a preview of the 2007 World Cup – and all for just £6.99.
By his own admission TV cricket analyst Simon Hughes never set the cricketing world alight as a player, but he spent a lot of time in the company of those who did. Hughes coupled this experience of 15 years on the professional circuit at Middlesex with a dry, sardonic wit to produce the 1997 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, ‘A Lot of Hard Yakka.’ Last year Hughes returned to his bowling mark with ‘Morning Everyone’, his account of 15 years as a cricket journalist culminating in witnessing the England Ashes triumph from the commentary box. Fans will know Hughes as ‘The Analyst’ from Channel Four’s award winning cricket coverage.
‘Morning Everyone – an Ashes Odyssey’, just published in paperback, is a sports book of two halves. The early chapters echo Hughes’ workman like approach to everyday county cricket as he learns a new trade as a sports writer. He displays a fine attention to detail, proving a keen observer of fellow commentators, whatever the sport, as well as being a skilled analyst with the rare gift of communicating to professional and lay audience alike. The tumultuous events of the Ashes series dominate the second half of the book as Hughes’ life story is swamped by the historic events of the Ashes summer.
Hughes’ mentor has been the great Richie Benaud, whose swan song this ashes series was. Hughes delivers a warm, affectionate tribute to the retiring commentator against the dramatic dénouement of the Ashes campaign. As a final tribute the book takes its title from Benaud’s customary opening remarks to his TV audience.
The tone of the book owes much to Hughes the bowler. His action is busy and bustling, the pace never drops, although he is a little over reliant on a stock delivery of self-deprecatory humour. The first time we are fooled by the initial trajectory and enjoy the late deviation, but overexposure to his technique diminishes the effect. Hughes is a hard working, energetic enthusiast who has reinvented himself from journeyman cricketer to journeyman journalist and gained friends and respect on the way. The book is hugely enjoyable for all the behind-the-scenes cricketing gossip and for providing the best seat in the house for when England finally regained the Ashes.
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