Cricket's Historians

98 Some Sumptuous Volumes and County Histories states published their annual reports, but there is little of importance published on a national level and certainly no attempt at a history of cricket in the country as a whole. South Africa was more fortunate, having in Maurice William Luckin, a keen record keeper and historian. His great work The History of South African Cricket – 848 pages in length – was published in Johannesburg in 1915. It is comprehensive, including the scorecards of all the principal cricket matches played in South Africa and giving detailed histories Province by Province. There is a good selection of individual and team photographs, but only scattered biographical notes on a few personalities. Luckin was born in Romford, Essex in 1876 and emigrated to South Africa at the age of 19. He played two first-class matches for Transvaal in 1910-11 and from 1914 to 1918 was Secretary of the South African Cricket Association. He was to issue a second volume of South African Cricket in the 1920s. In India M.E.Pavri published, in 1901, Parsi Cricket . This book with earlier Indian publications was dealt with in the previous chapter. Guha in his history of Indian cricket, published in 2002 under the title A Corner of a Foreign Field rather plays down the importance of Pavri as a player, I suspect because Pavri rather overstates the role that Lord Harris played in Indian cricket! Throughout the rest of cricket world, various annuals and books of instruction were published in the early years of the 20 th century; whilst valuable in their way, they do not come within the scope of this present book.