ACS News

17 January 2024
Jim Ledbetter

Jim Ledbetter (photo from Mark Bentley)

News has belatedly reached us that Jim Ledbetter died in October 2023. Jim served the ACS as treasurer and later chairman, and edited the series First-Class Cricket: A Complete Record.

Jim’s successor as chair, Douglas Miller, has written a short tribute to our fondly-remembered colleague.

14 October 2023
Golden Jubilee Lunch

ACS members and guests at Grace Road after the Golden Jubilee lunch in October 2023.
Philip Banham addresses members at the 50th anniversary lunch
Philip Banham recalls the birth of the ACS in March 1973.

On 14 October, we celebrated our Golden Jubilee at Grace Road in Leicester – our first in-person meeting for four and a half years, after the Covid pandemic forced us to hold recent AGMs online. It was very good to see so many friends and colleagues again after so long.

John Barclay gesticulating with both hands as he walks among ACS members
John Barclay addresses ACS members

Sadly, Robert Brooke, one of our two co-founders, was one of those who had to withdraw at the last minute, but Philip Banham and Norman Rogers, two of the members who attended the 1973 meeting which decided – by a single vote – to establish an Association of Cricket Statisticians, were among nearly 60 members and guests present.

After lunch in the Charles Palmer Suite, members were entertained by an animated and perambulatory talk from former Sussex captain John Barclay, one of the few county cricketers who were born in Germany!

A fuller report on the event, including toasts and tributes from leading members and a video recording of John Barclay’s talk, is now available in the password-protected Members Area.

1 August 2023
Golden Jubilee Lunch on 14 October

The ACS stumps and feather logo, over a red cricket ball; bats, bails, pad and helmet visible behind. Text: Golden Jubilee 14 October 2023, The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians

On Saturday 14 October, we are planning to meet in person for the first time since the pandemic hit the UK, with a Golden Jubilee lunch at Grace Road, Leicester, to mark the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the ACS in 1973. President David Kendix has invited all ACS members to attend. More information about this event is included in the August mailing, and can also be downloaded here, along with a menu and booking form.

18 March 2023
AGM 2023

The ACS’s 50th AGM was held virtually via Zoom on Saturday 18 March 2023, and attended by 49 members.

The late Travis Basevi was named the Brooke-Lambert Statistician of the Year for his pioneering work on computerised cricket statistics on Cricinfo, and especially the creation of the interactive database Statsguru.

Roger Page, the Association’s long-serving agent in Australia, was awarded honorary life membership.

There was further news of the planned 50th anniversary lunch, to be held at Grace Road, Leicester, on 14 October, and plans for the distribution of the late Tony Webb’s research papers.

The Minutes and a full recording of the meeting are both available in the password-protected Members Area.

3 March 2023
The ACS reaches its half-century!

3 March 2023 marks the ACS’s 50th anniversary. On that date in 1973, 30 cricket-lovers gathered at the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham and voted – by a majority of one! – to form a new ‘Association of Cricket Statisticians’ (‘Historians’ was added to the name 20 years later). Co-founders Robert Brooke and Dennis Lambert were elected our first Chairman and Secretary respectively. Of the original 30 founder members, seven – Philip Banham, Robert Brooke, David Gallagher, Peter Handford, Godfrey Prior, Norman Rogers and Martyn Taylor – are still members of the ACS today, and we thank and congratulate them on their loyalty and longevity.

Later in the year we are planning to meet in person for the first time since the pandemic hit the UK, with a 50th anniversary lunch at Grace Road, Leicester on Saturday 14 October. Further details were disclosed at the recent virtual meeting  see the item starting at 02:45 in our YouTube recording. More information about this event will be announced nearer the time.

Meanwhile, as previously announced, the 2023 AGM will be held via Zoom on 18 March.

You can read more about the formation and earlier years of the ACS, and about the individuals whose hugely-valued efforts set us on our current path, in Twenty-One Years of the ACS, by our late President, Richard Streeton.

27 February 2023
Tony Webb, Roger Mann and Jack Chapman

Tony Webb, who masterminded the ACS’s Minor Counties Match Scores project from 1999 to 2011, died on 22 February. Julian Lawton Smith, who succeeded him as editor on the project, pays tribute to a phenomenal researcher.

We have also updated the obituaries page with tributes to Roger Mann, whose superb photo collection helped to illustrate many ACS publications, and Jack Chapman, the historian of Durham club cricket, who both died last year.

26 November 2022
Virtual Meeting

A Virtual Members Meeting was held via Zoom on 26 November, to discuss forthcoming meetings (including the 2023 AGM in March, and plans to celebrate the ACS’s 50th anniversary with a lunch at Grace Road in October); social media developments; and recent and forthcoming publications. Further details here. A recording is now available via YouTube.

22 November 2022
Items Wanted

We have expanded the Members’ Marketplace, where members can sell cricket-related printed material to each other (see 1 February 2022 below), by adding an Items Wanted page, where members may request items they are looking for; do look if you think you might be able to help.

4 November 2022
Travis Basevi

Travis Basevi and Vishal Misra, looking at a laptop
Travis Basevi (left) sharing ideas with Vishal Misra in 2019

Travis Basevi, an ACS member for many years, died on 20 October. He was 47.

Vishal Misra, who worked with Travis on Cricinfo, has written a special tribute for us, explaining how Travis changed the way we see cricket – through his work building Cricinfo’s scorecard archive, inventing a live scorecard infrastructure, and creating Statsguru as a free resource for any cricket follower to generate their own stats on international cricket.

1 August 2022
Cricket Tours – new series

The ACS has launched a new book series, Cricket Tours, about cricket tours of almost any type – men’s or women’s international tours (with or without Test matches), tours by county or state sides (etc), official or private tours, and even tours that were scheduled but did not take place.

More details of the series can be found here. The first book, published in August 2022, is Keith Walmsley’s The ABC Tour on the 1932 South American tour of Britain.

1 August 2022
Vic Isaacs and Tim McCann

Vic and Richard Isaacs
Vic Isaacs with his son Richard at Lord’s

The ACS was very sorry to hear of the death of Vic Isaacs on 15 July, aged 77. Best known as Hampshire’s scorer and statistician from 1975 to 2005, Vic was also active in the ACS, carrying out key work on limited-overs records, pioneering the use of computers in cricket statistics, and publishing several books. He was our Statistician of the Year for 1996.

His son Richard, who followed in his footsteps as a scorer and statistician, has written a tribute to his father. Vic’s funeral will be on Thursday 18 August 2022, 2.30pm, at Southampton (Stoneham) Crematorium.

We are also sorry to hear of the death of Tim McCann on 26 June, aged 78. Tim was our Statistician of the Year 2004 for his meticulously researched book Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century.

28 June 2022
Diversity and Equality Statement

The ACS has issued a Diversity and Equality Statement setting out clearly its objective of seeking to appeal to people with an interest in every form of the game.

It recognises that, although in the past much of its work has focused on men’s first-class cricket, more recently it has published material on women’s cricket and taken the lead, for example, on developing statistics for the new Hundred competition.

The statement sets out a number of ways in which the ACS will seek to encourage research work on a broad range of topics, designed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. These ways include continuing to invite contributions to its activities from all members, actively encouraging new projects related to forms of cricket that have received less attention in the past, and seeking to lead on the collection of statistics for under-researched aspects of the game. The full statement is available here.

21 April 2022
Wisden and the ACS align first-class records

The first page of Lawrence Booth’s article explaining Wisden’s decision

The ACS is delighted that, following discussions last year with the editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, Lawrence Booth, the ACS and Wisden now have a shared approach to the compilation of statistics relating to first-class cricket. The result is that statistics recognized by the ACS and the records section of Wisden 2022 are now in alignment. The ACS is very appreciative of the initiative taken by Mr Booth in raising this subject with us last year and we are pleased we were able to be of assistance.

A press release marking the publication of the Almanack explains:

Wisden has adopted the statistics used by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, affecting the career figures of several prominent players. The ACS have argued that ten matches which Wisden previously counted towards W. G. Grace’s first-class record were not, in fact, first-class – reducing his tally of runs from 54,896 to 54,211, and his haul of wickets from 2,876 to 2,809. Jack Hobbs, meanwhile, gains two hundreds, moving from 197 to 199, because the ACS ruled that some games played in 1930-31 were first-class. Herbert Sutcliffe and Wilfred Rhodes are also affected.

19 March 2022
AGM 2022

ACS AGM 2022
ACS members attend the 2022 AGM via Zoom

Our 49th AGM was held virtually via Zoom on Saturday 19 March 2022.

A full recording of the meeting and the Minutes are both available in the password-protected Members Area.

The Brooke-Lambert Statistician of the Year was Julian Lawton Smith, for his work on the Minor Counties Project, and the two winners of the inaugural Peter Wynne-Thomas Award, for members who, by their own voluntary efforts, have provided help or other benefits to the wider membership in particular ways over a lengthy period, were John Ward and Harry Watton.

1 February 2022
Introducing the Members’ Marketplace

The ACS has launched a Members’ Marketplace to facilitate members selling cricket-related printed material (books, magazines, scorebooks, scorecards, etc) to each other. The marketplace will operate on a similar basis to small ads, so any transaction will be between the buyer and the seller; the ACS will not act as an agent, will take no fee, and will not guarantee the description or condition of any items. Instructions for using the marketplace are on the webpage.
This is a trial, and will be reviewed in a few months to see whether there is a demand for the service and how smoothly it works.

25 September 2021
EGM and tribute to the late Peter Wynne-Thomas

Peter Wynne-Thomas
Peter Wynne-Thomas 1934–2021

An EGM held via Zoom on Saturday 25 September approved a revised version of the ACS Rules. A recording of the meeting may be found in the Members Area (password required).

It was followed by an online event celebrating the life of Peter Wynne-Thomas, our esteemed former Honorary Secretary, who died in July after a short illness. Representatives of Nottinghamshire CCC as well as ACS members shared their memories of Peter and paid tribute to his work. This event can be viewed in an MP4 file (lasting just over an hour) here.

21 July 2021
The Hundred – ACS Guidance

The ACS Statistics Logistics sub-group has recently discussed how to treat statistics for the ECB’s new 100-ball competition, after consultation with ACS members, ECB officials, Wisden and Cricket Archive. Their advice on how to handle statistics for The Hundred is available in pdf form here.

16 July 2021
Peter Wynne-Thomas 1934–2021

The ACS is very sad to hear of the death of our dear friend Peter Wynne-Thomas, the leading cricket statistician and historian. A founder member of the Association, he served as our Secretary from 1974 to 2006. He was also Nottinghamshire CCC’s librarian, archivist and recent president.

Members and other admirers of Peter are welcome to send tributes to webmaster@acscricket.com so that they can be added to his obituary.

26 May 2021
An Evening with David Frith

David Frith's autobiography, Paddington Boy
David’s recently published autobiography

UPDATE: An Evening with David Frith can now be viewed in the Members Area (password required).

The next virtual event for ACS members will be on Zoom on Saturday 12 June, starting at 19.30.

An Evening with David Frith will see the eminent writer and cricket historian in conversation with Andrew Hignell about his life in cricket.

Members wishing to attend this free event should send an email to secretary@acscricket.com by noon on Thursday 10 June. Members wishing to ask questions should submit them in advance to the same address.

20 March 2021
AGM 2021

The AGM on Zoon
ACS members attend the 2021 AGM via Zoom

The 48th Annual General Meeting of the ACS was held virtually via Zoom on Saturday 20 March, and attended by 81 members.

It was agreed to introduce a new category of digital membership from December 2021. Digital members would have full voting rights, but receive the quarterly mailing by email.

The rules were also updated to cover the staging of committee meetings and the AGM in virtual format.

Derek Carlaw was named the Brooke-Lambert Statistician of the Year, and Philip Bailey acknowledged the award of honorary life membership.

The meeting was recorded, and is available for viewing in the Members Area (password required), along with the minutes.

15 March 2021
Second Eleven Cricket – 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the cancellation by the ECB of the Second Eleven Championship and the inter-county T20 competitions planned for 2020. In light of this decision, and the absence of any formal competitions, the ACS decided not to publish a Second Eleven Annual for 2021.

However, a dozen friendlies took place during August and September 2020. To help statisticians, as well as the county scorers, in their compilation of records and other biographical information, a pdf on Second Eleven Cricket in 2020 has been produced as an interim measure ahead of the 2021 domestic season when it is hoped that the Second Eleven Championship and T20 competition will return to the calendar.

The Second Eleven Annual for 2022 will contain information about both the truncated 2020 season, and its players, as well as the normal amount of player and match detail for the 2021 season, plus the updated records.

27 February 2021
AGM to be held via Zoom on 20 March 2021

The 48th Annual General Meeting of the ACS will be held virtually via Zoom on Saturday 20 March, beginning at 10 am GMT. Papers for the AGM were posted to members in the February mailing.

Members are asked to confirm their attendance by emailing secretary@acscricket.com by 13 March; the Secretary will send log-in information and instructions on voting ahead of the meeting. Members should also email any points or questions about the annual reports from the Chairman and Treasurer (published in the February mailing) by 13 March.

The meeting will be recorded, and will subsequently be available for viewing in the Members Area (password required). Minutes of previous AGMs are also available in the Members Area.

27 February 2021
Members Meeting

We held a second members’ virtual meeting on 27 February, attended by 81 members.

Members’ responses were invited on three matters – please contact secretary@acscricket.com if you can help or have comments.

  • We are looking for one or more volunteers to help manage our website. No previous experience is necessary – training will be given!
  • We are seeking members’ thoughts on what the ACS might do to mark the 250th anniversary, in June 2022, of the match regarded as the first-ever ‘great’ or first-class match. The Broadhalfpenny Down Association is already making plans to mark this occasion: should the ACS join in with them, and/or should we mark this anniversary in some other way?
  • We also want your thoughts on some specific statistical issues arising from the introduction of The Hundred competition later this year – follow the link for details.

The meeting also included a talk from Eric Midwinter, the winner of the Brooke-Lambert Trophy for Statistician of the Year in 2019, while Jeremy Lonsdale, Mick Pope, Anthony Bradbury and Roy Morgan spoke about their recent or forthcoming ACS publications.

A recording of the meeting is available in the Members Area (you will need the members’ password to view this), along with our previous virtual meeting in November.

22 December 2020
Committee decisions following Members Meeting on 21 November

At its meeting on 12/13 December, the ACS committee considered at length the issues discussed during the virtual meeting of members on 21 November, and the many written comments that had been received.

The following decisions were taken (summarised):

Postage

  • It was agreed not to pursue the option of using surface mail for sending the quarterly mailing, or books, to overseas members.
  • It was agreed that the overseas surcharge should be at a rate of 20% for European destinations and 30% elsewhere, but that for orders of over £100 a tailored postage calculation would be made and, if cheaper, offered to the purchaser.

Journal frequency

  • It was agreed that the Journal should remain a quarterly publication (thus bringing to an end some years of debate on this subject).

Membership, including Digital membership

  • It was agreed that the subscription for ‘traditional’ membership (with paper mailings) should remain at its present level of £29 for UK members and £34 for overseas members, but that the £29 rate would also be extended to cover members in Europe as well as the UK.
  • It was agreed to propose the introduction of the category of ‘Digital membership’, open to all members who were willing to receive their quarterly mailings in digital form rather than as hard copies. The subscription rate would be £25 wherever in the world the member is located.
  • The £2 discount for paying subscriptions by direct debit will remain available to all members, including ‘digital members’.
  • It was agreed that ‘traditional’ membership and digital membership are separate options: members must choose one or the other.
  • It was confirmed that ‘digital members’ would remain full members of the Association, with exactly the same privileges as all other members.
  • The details of these changes, and the changes to the ACS’s Rules to accommodate them, would be set out in the booklet for the 2021 AGM, and if approved by the AGM would take effect from 1 December 2021.

Electronic publishing formats

  • It was agreed that, at least for now, the Journal and any other publications produced in electronic form will be produced in pdf format.
  • Other formats will be considered if there is significant member interest in using a different, or additional, format.

Electronic publications

  • It was agreed that the current 12-month interval between publishing a book in paper form and (potentially) making it available electronically should remain, but exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.
  • It was agreed to stress to members receiving material in electronic form (including the Journal) that this material is for their personal use only, and should not be passed to third parties.
  • A sub-committee was set up to consider the use of electronic platforms in addition to Google Play, such as Kindle.

Voucher scheme

  • The support for the scheme was welcomed, and it was agreed that it should continue.
  • It was agreed that each year’s voucher should run (as at present) from 1 December to 30 November, but that when each new year’s code is announced it would be made very clear that it would not become operational until 1 December, and that voucher purchases before that date should continue to use the previous year’s code.
  • It was agreed that the voucher is available for purchasing printed books only, and not for electronic publications or for any other purpose.

20 December 2020
Johnny Lawrence book launch, Tuesday 12 January – with Sir Geoffrey Boycott

UPDATE: the book launch can now be viewed here (MP4 file, lasting just under two hours).

We are delighted to announce the launch of Schooled in Cricket: the Johnny Lawrence Story at 2pm on Tuesday 12 January.

This fascinating book, written by Steve Bindman and published as part of the ACS’s Lives in Cricket series, will be launched via ZOOM with a discussion about Johnny’s career as a county cricketer and a coach, featuring the author, plus Stephen Lawrence (Johnny’s youngest son) and Sir Geoffrey Boycott (who wrote the foreword). Stephen Hill will also be speaking about Johnny’s career with Somerset. 

There will be an opportunity to ask questions besides raising any relevant discussion points. 

The event, expected to last approx. 90 minutes, is free of charge. If you would like to attend, please email secretary@acscricket.com by 12 noon on Monday 11 January. Further information, including log-in details for ZOOM, will be sent to all those who have registered in advance.

If you have any questions or points in advance, please email secretary@acscricket.com.

12 December 2020
Peter Griffiths co-opted to ACS committee

We are pleased to announce that, at a meeting of the ACS General Committee on 12 December, we co-opted Peter Griffiths to join our ranks.

Pete previously served on the committee from 1993 to 2008, and has carried out many other roles for the Association, including typesetting many publications and running ACS Sales from 2006 to 2014. His expertise in matters digital and technological will be a great asset as the committee develops some of the ideas that were discussed at the members’ virtual meeting in November.

There is still one vacancy on the committee. We are looking to diversify the committee’s ‘skill-set’, so if any member with a specialist skill – especially in an area such as marketing – would be interested in joining us, please get in touch with the Secretary at secretary@acscricket.com

21 November 2020
Members meeting

A members’ virtual meeting was held on 21 November, to discuss issues including postage costs, the publication frequency of the Journal, electronic publications and the discount sales voucher. Fifty-six members attended. A recording is available in the Members Area (you will need the members’ password to view this).

15 October 2020
Nigel Plews book launch, Saturday 7 November

UPDATE: the book launch can now be viewed here (MP4 file, lasting an hour and a half).

A Tall Story is the latest book from the ACS Cricket Witness series. It is based on the life and times of Nigel Plews, the Nottingham policeman who became one of world cricket’s most respected umpires, despite never having played at professional level. After retiring from the Fraud Squad, Nigel stood in first-class cricket from 1981 until 1999, officiating in 11 Tests, 16 one-day internationals and many major one-day games and cup finals.

This book, written in conjunction with Nigel’s family, draws on the diaries and notebooks which he kept assiduously throughout his distinguished career, starting with his days umpiring in league cricket in the East Midlands. Tragically, Nigel was diagnosed with inoperable kidney cancer in 2007; during the final years of his life, with the help of his wife and children, he collated his memoirs, the basis of this fascinating book.

A virtual launch (via ZOOM) of A Tall Story will take place on Saturday 7 November, starting at 10.00. A number of speakers will be making short presentations, including the author, Andrew Hignell, members of Nigel’s family and former colleagues from Nottingham Police, as well as Neil Bainton, another man who has progressed from the recreational game to the first-class umpires’ list, and who has written the foreword.

If you would like to attend the virtual launch, please send an email to secretary@acscricket.com by 5 November, giving your email contact details.

10 October 2020
2020 AGM report

The 47th Annual General Meeting of the ACS, postponed from 21 March, took place on Saturday 10 October. It was held as a ‘virtual’ meeting, attended by the Association’s President (David Kendix), the members of the General Committee, and two observers from among the membership (Jenny Heald and Chris O’Brien).

The six motions on which members had been asked for their votes were all carried by an overwhelming majority of the 97 members who had sent in valid voting papers.

A recording was made of the meeting, and this can now be seen in the Members Area of the website, for which you will need your password.

The minutes of the meeting are available in the same area and also appear in the Spring 2021 edition of The Cricket Statistician.

25 August 2020
1945: The Victory Tests and England v The Dominions

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the return of first-class cricket to England at the end of the Second World War, ACS member Barry Valentine has compiled ball-by-ball records of England’s five Victory Tests against the Australian Services and England v The Dominions, all played between May and August 1945. These are available in pdf form via our Research page.

England were led by Wally Hammond, and included Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Bill Edrich and Doug Wright; the Australians, under Lindsay Hassett, discovered a new star in Keith Miller; and the Dominions were captained by Learie Constantine, in his final first-class match. England looked the strongest team, but the summer would not go entirely their way. Barry’s work has enabled us to relive the series, blow by blow.

Second Victory Test at Bramall Lane: photo from Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/

3 August 2020
2020 AGM to be held ‘virtually’

As previously announced, the 2020 AGM, postponed from 21 March, has been rescheduled for Saturday 10 October.

Regrettably, restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic mean that we will be unable to hold the AGM as a normal ‘in-person’ gathering. So the decision has been taken that the AGM will be held as a small-scale, virtual meeting which will consider only the procedural matters on which a formal decision of the membership is required.

Fuller details of the arrangements for a virtual AGM were sent some time ago to members for whom we have email addresses. To ensure that all members have a chance to see them, these details are repeated in the mailing that is being posted to all members in early August. The documents included with the mailing also give more background to the decision to hold this year’s meeting virtually, and explain how members will be able to cast their votes on the matters that this year’s AGM will consider. A voting paper is also included.

These documents, including the voting paper, can also be seen in the Members Area of the website, for which you will need your password.

22 May 2020
New date for 2020 AGM – Saturday 10 October

The 2020 AGM, postponed from 21 March, has been rescheduled for Saturday 10 October.

We hope that we will be able to hold the AGM as a normal ‘in-person’ gathering – in which case it will be at Derbyshire CCC, as usual.

If that is not possible, the AGM will be held ‘virtually’, and will consider only the procedural matters on which a formal decision of the membership is required.

Fuller details of the arrangements for a virtual AGM have been sent to all members for whom we have email addresses. If the AGM is to be held virtually, these details will be repeated in the mailing that goes by post to all members in early August. By that time a definite decision will have been taken as to whether the AGM will be held ‘in person’ or virtually. That decision will also be included in the August mailing.

5 May 2020
Happy Birthday, Rob!

Robert Brooke
Robert Brooke wins the Statistician of the Year trophy for the second time

Happy 80th Birthday to Robert Brooke, one of the ACS’s Founders! Our first Chairman and the first editor of The Cricket Statistician, he has written many cricket books, especially on his beloved Warwickshire. He has been named Statistician of the Year twice, for 1989 and in 2011; since 2017, the Statistician of the Year trophy has been named the Brooke-Lambert Trophy in honour of him and the late Dennis Lambert, with whom he founded the Association.

28 April 2020
Kent County Cricketers A to Z

Following the online publication last year of Part One of Derek Carlaw’s Kent County Cricketers A to Z, we are delighted that Part Two is also now available on the ACS website.

This second volume relates to the 92 players who made their debuts for Kent between 1919 and 1939. It follows the same format, a series of biographies written by Derek Carlaw, plus statistics collated by John Winnifrith. A contents page with clickable links takes the reader directly to each player.

At the same time, Part One, which covers the 524 cricketers who played from 1806 to 1914, has been revised, with updated biographies, first-class statistics, and the addition of a contents page with links to each entry.

Our thanks and congratulations once again to Derek and John for their outstanding research. If you have any additional information about any of these players, or amendments which you would like to share with Derek and John, please send an email to secretary@acscricket.com

We look forward in due course to the publication of subsequent volumes.

12 April 2020
#1920 cricket

Our new Collaborative Research Projects are coming along nicely, and the first fruits are available via the Research page.

But we’re planning another project to enliven this year without a cricket season, via the @ACScricket Twitter account.

From 1 May, we’ll be reliving the 1920 season, with the hashtag #1920cricket.

We don’t yet know whether there will be any Championship cricket in 2020, but back in 1920 the County Championship is hitting its stride again after the war, with three-day matches restored after 1919’s two-day experiment, and the competition building up to a thrilling climax.

There are no international tourists, but the county players are hoping to win a place on England’s tour to Australia in 1920/21 for the first Test series in nearly seven years.

Curiosities of the season include 13 hat-tricks (11 in the Championship), victory for a team who were all out for 22 in their first innings – and the fastest hundred in first-class cricket.

The first ball will be bowled on 1 May, when Surrey host Northamptonshire at The Oval.

Thanks to Chris Overson and Simon Sweetman who are researching our daily bulletins from a century ago.

Follow #1920cricket at @ACScricket for day-to-day updates as the 1920 season develops!

29 March 2020
Thank you, Philip!

After serving on the ACS’s General Committee for a total of 41 years, Philip Bailey has now stood down from that position – for the time being at least.

Philip will be known to many of our members as the statistical power behind many thrones, both inside and outside the ACS. There is no doubt that, without his efforts over all this time, the ACS would not be the flourishing and respected organisation that it is today.

We feel sure that all members would like to join with the Committee in giving our grateful thanks to Philip for all that he has done for the Association over the years.

He is not leaving us altogether, though, and we are very pleased that he will continue to undertake all the many tasks, outside his committee role, that he carries out on the ACS’s behalf.

A fuller thank-you to Philip, and a suitable presentation, will be made at the rearranged AGM in due course.

Keith Walmsley
Chairman

21 March 2020
Can you help with our new research projects?

Stuck at home, with no cricket to watch, and looking for something to do?

The ACS is launching a new series of collaborative research projects, and we need our members’ help.

The internet provides access to a huge number of local newspapers, without having to go to the library, so you can get involved even if you’re self-isolating. Among the subjects we want to work on are women’s cricket (compiling a definitive list of major domestic matches), league cricket, national competitions, research into county committees, scorebooks (where are historic scorebooks kept?) and several more. We’re open to further suggestions!

For more details on what we’re planning and how you can help, read Peter Griffiths’s proposals which include contact details for the project co-ordinators.

21 March 2020
Brooke-Lambert Trophy

Eric Midwinter
Eric Midwinter, Statistician of the Year for 2019

We are delighted to announce that Eric Midwinter has been awarded the Brooke-Lambert Trophy for the Statistician of the Year.

Sadly, he could not be presented with the trophy amid the applause of our members, as the AGM on 21 March has had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 emergency.

But you can read the Hon. Secretary’s citation explaining why Eric has earned the award, and Eric’s response, here.

Eric has also sent us a shortened version of the talk he was due to give after the AGM, entitled Cricket in My Life, in which he expounds on the significance of cricket and comedy in his own life and popular culture.

8 January 2020
Neil Beck

We are sorry to report the death of Neil Beck, one of our earliest members, on New Year’s Day. Many will remember Neil for his cricket book shop at the County Ground at Hove.

28 October 2019
Members’ Email Forum moves to Groups.io

The ACS has moved its members’ email forum to Groups.io, following the announcement that Yahoo Groups, our previous forum host, was removing the web-based elements of their service. For instructions on how to join the new forum, go to the page on the Members’ Email Forum in the Members Area. Any member who does not have the password for the Members Area should contact webmaster@acscricket.com.

11 September 2019
Kit Bartlett

The Association regrets to report the death of Kit Bartlett, one of our founder members, on 6 September. He served on the committee from 1995 to 2006 and edited the Famous Cricketers series.

4 August 2019
Former ACS President MJK Smith honoured at Edgbaston

MJK at the gates
MJK Smith and his gates at Edgbaston

We are delighted that Warwickshire CCC has named a set of gates at Edgbaston after MJK Smith, who served as a very popular President of the ACS from 2007 to 2017. The gates were officially opened on 4 August during the Edgbaston Ashes Test.

MJK is best known as a former captain of Warwickshire and England. He played 50 Tests between 1958 and 1972, half of them as captain, and 637 first-class matches in all, scoring 39,832 runs at 41.84, which put him 18th on the all-time list for career runs. He served as Warwickshire’s chairman from 1991 to 2003, became the ICC’s first referee in the Australia-India series of 1991-92, and managed several England tours.

29 December 2018
ACS stalwart Peter Wynne-Thomas awarded BEM

Peter Wynne-Thomas and Enid Bakewell
Peter Wynne-Thomas and Enid Bakewell at the launch of her biography at Trent Bridge in 2018

We are delighted that former ACS Secretary Peter Wynne-Thomas was awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours list, in acknowledgment of his services to cricket and the community in Nottinghamshire. A founder member of the ACS, Peter served as Secretary from 1974 to 2006. One of England’s most eminent cricket statisticians and historians, he has published around 30 books, and is also famous as Nottinghamshire CCC’s librarian.

England Test all-rounder Enid Bakewell, whose biography by Simon Sweetman we published in 2018, was also honoured with an MBE. Coalminer’s Daughter is available from the ACS Shop.

29 November 2018
Congratulations to Jeremy Lonsdale

We are very pleased to announce that the ACS publication A Game Taken Seriously: The Foundations of Yorkshire’s Cricketing Power by Jeremy Lonsdale was on the final shortlist for the British Society of Sports History’s prestigious Lord Aberdare Literary Prize for books published in 2017. This is an outstanding achievement – congratulations, Jeremy!

1 November 2017
County Cricket: Sundry Extras

The Research Section of the ACS website now contains County Cricket: Sundry Extras, an interesting piece of research by David Jeater. It gives biographical details of over a thousand county cricketers, some well-known but many not, with achievements in areas of public life away from cricket, including fields administrative, commercial, cultural, judicial, military, political, professional and sporting.

David has put Sundry Extras together over several years; he says that many ACS members have contributed to it in one way or another, and wishes to thank all those who can see in the list some of their own findings.

8 October 2017
Brian Heald

We are saddened to report the death of Brian Heald, one of the ACS’s original members, who served the Association as a committee member and in numerous other roles. He was made an Honorary Life Member at the AGM earlier this year.

21 November 2016
Dennis Lambert

The Association is sorry to announce the death of Dennis Lambert, one of its Founder Members. In October 1972, Dennis Lambert and Robert Brooke placed an advert in The Cricketer, asking anyone interested in forming a ‘Cricket Statisticians Association’ to get in touch. Dennis became the ACS’s first Secretary and was Chairman from 1979 to 1981.