Cricket's Historians

The Pioneers of Cricket’s History and Statistics cricket enthusiast and parliamentary journalist (and workaholic), Charles Dickens. In 1840, national seasonal cricket averages were printed in Bell’s Life for the first time – it is probable that these were the first seasonal averages ever to appear in the press. The cricket historian, G.B.Buckley, credited Denison with this compilation. In 1844 Denison issued The Cricketer’s Companion , which gave match scores and averages for the season of 1843. Ignoring Bentley’s two supplements, Denison’s book was the first annual since the final edition of Britcher though a supplement to the New Sporting Magazine of August, September and October 1833 had contained 14 full scores and around 250 summary scores. That supplement was not repeated in subsequent years. The new annual by Denison cost 1s 6d, but must have proved financially viable, since a second edition appeared. Likewise the 1845 edition required a second printing. That year Denison took on the additional role as a founding Hon Secretary of the newly formed Surrey County Cricket Club. An active player, Haygarth sums him up: ‘He was a slow bowler, round-arm; but as a cricketer was nothing remarkable. His name will not often be found in these pages, but he participated in a vast number of suburban and other inferior contests, not recorded in this work ( Scores & Biographies ). In acting as Surrey Secretary and publishing his cricket annual, as well as continuing with his self-imposed schedule of ‘ordinary’ reporting, Denison over-stretched himself. He resigned as Surrey Hon Secretary and the last edition of his cricket annual was issued in 1847. Interestingly in the same year, Denison is pictured with William Clarke’s England Eleven in the well-known lithograph of the team. With Clarke’s team attracting enormous crowds all over England and putting inter-county games on the back foot, perhaps Denison believed that reporting the England matches was what newspaper editors required? In 1846 he had issued a book Sketches of the Players , which gave comprehensive essays on the cricket stars of the day. Denison died in 1856, officially of bronchitis, but ‘overwork’ might have been a more accurate description! 19