Cricket's Historians

142 Mainly County Histories and Overseas Annuals on Worcestershire cricket prior to the formation of the County Club – for that, one had to wait until 1998, when Three Black Pears , by Bernard Bridgewater, was published in association with the County Club. Chignell actually issued, like Snow, a second volume, bringing the saga up to 1968. The books are simply dreadful. The Rev Preb W.R.Chignell, a charming companion and great cricket supporter, died in January 1995. S.Canynge Caple was the author of A History of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club 1870-1948 . About a third of the 182 pages are statistical – various tables of records and the detailed scores of 26 county matches. There is almost nothing on cricket in the county prior to 1870 and little relating to the biographical details of players, but the run through the achievements by Gloucestershire on the field is much better than Chignell’s prose, even if there is a lack of fresh insight. It is the first book on the subject. In the same year, Louis Palgrave wrote The Story of The Oval . This is a very misleading title, but the contents are explained in the author’s foreword. It was designed as a continuation of the great Surrey history which was issued in 1902. Like Canynge Caple’s book it does not tell the reader anything that cannot be discovered via a set of Wisden for the appropriate period. Two more senior counties than Leicestershire and Worcestershire, the second volumes of whose histories had appeared in the inter-war period, had third volumes published in 1950. J.M.Kilburn was the author of History of Yorkshire County Cricket 1924- 1949 . Born in Sheffield in 1909 and educated at Holgate Grammar School and Sheffield University, James (Jim) Maurice Kilburn was appointed cricket correspondent of the Yorkshire Post in 1934, taking over from A.W.Pullin. He remained in post until 1976 and has been described as a rather austere presence in the press box – he had taken a degree in economics and never had formal training as a journalist. On principle he never attended press conferences or reported on cricketers’ off-the-field activities. He was a very useful cricketer. Like Chignell, he played in the Bradford League and his first cricket reports were for the local paper