Cricket's Historians

Rowland Bowen causes Ripples book reviews, almost all written by the Editor. It has been noted that Golesworthy’s The Encyclopedia of Cricket came in for criticism in the first issue of The Cricket Quarterly . A further comment on this book is necessary, if only because it became the most popular book of its type through the 1960s and 1970s, six editions being issued. Maurice Golesworthy, a West Country sports journalist, living in Devon, was principally concerned with soccer and wrote encyclopedias on football and boxing prior to turning his mind to cricket. The standard of his cricket book can best be judged by John Arlott’s comments in the 1963 Wisden : “This book, however, has many errors which are not matters of opinion nor mere ‘literals’, but major inaccuracies and cardinal omissions.” Golesworthy acknowledges as his main helper G.D.Martineau, though in later editions John E.Price comes to his aid. Price is credited with providing questions for the TV programme ‘Sporting Chance’ and producing statistical data for B.B.C. TV Test broadcasts, since the death of Roy Webber. In 1962, George Allen & Unwin decided to reissue Altham and Swanton’s History of Cricket in two volumes. Volume Two is 1919 to date, solely by Swanton. Bowen fills five pages of his magazine with comments on this revised work. Bowen’s main concern centres on the Hambledon period, which aspect was to grow into a typical Bowen obsession and like too many of his obsessions it gradually became increasingly irrational. Meanwhile, how was Rosenwater coping with his editorial role within The Cricket Society?’ His editorship covered eight issues – about 500 pages – before he left for The Cricketer . In each issue there was one, sometimes two, articles by Rosenwater and these always commanded respect. The Index to The Cricketer by H.A.Cohen was to outlive Rosenwater’s time, but its entries were flawed – entries under ‘A’ for example included: ‘Accent on Youth’, ‘After the War’, ‘Against the Fathers’, and ‘All in the Game’. Commander H.Emmet had his reminiscences serialised. The statisticians, Messrs Weigall, Fielding, Conder and Oliver etc, are given plenty of space. Donald King, the 181