Cricket's Historians

Chapter 13 The World of Cricket In terms of size and scope, one book commands centre stage in the 1960s: The World of Cricket , General Editor E.W.Swanton, Associate Editor Michael Melford, Assistant Editors Irving Rosenwater and A.S.R.Winlaw. The publishers were Michael Joseph and the book lists no less than 68 ‘Chief Contributors’. The volume contains 1,165 pages, 9½'' by 8'' ; in addition there are 20 pages of coloured plates. Black and white photographs and illustrations are scattered throughout the general text. The closest precedent to this new work was Warner’s Imperial Cricket. The entries in the work are arranged in a strict alphabetical order, so, for example, ‘Big Hits (an essay by Gerald Brodribb) slots in between ‘Bexhill CC’ and ‘Birkett, Lord’, who is followed by ‘Bishop’s Stortford College’ and then ‘Bite, to’ the last being the dictionary definition of the verb as related to cricket. Two points need to be made immediately, though both are obvious. Firstly, a book with 68 main contributors is clearly as strong as those authors and a check through the list shows they vary in quality from the best to the second rate. Secondly, a key issue was the decision on what entries (there are some 2,000) were to be included. One possible fault with the book is the amount of space given to public schools and amateur clubs, at the expense of the professional game, which today makes the book appear very old-fashioned. With 68 presumably notable cricket scholars enrolled, who could be found to give the finished work an objective review? The personnel 183