Cricket's Historians

202 Bowen Bows Out matters. He also had a number of articles in the magazine, with wandering clubs a particular interest. He was co-author of a short history of the Butterflies C.C. in 1962 and from 1964 is listed as a contributor to Wisden . He later took charge of the obituaries section of that work and was still in command at his death. As can be understood his knowledge of biographical matters, especially relating to Public School and University cricketers was extensive. He had decided opinions on a variety of subjects, but was always loyal to his friends. The fact that the strong personalities of Arrowsmith and Bowen managed to work in harmony was somewhat astonishing. Cyril Lionel Robert James, born in Chaguanas, Trinidad in January 1901, and was educated at Queen’s Royal College, Port-of-Spain. He came to England in the 1930s, reporting cricket for the Manchester Guardian from 1933 (he arrived to cover the West Indian tour of that summer) to 1938 and the Glasgow Herald . He then moved to the United States, before a brief spell back in England and a return to his home island, where he edited The Nation . Later in life he came to live in South London, where he died in May 1989. He fought for the cause of racial equality in the West Indies, as well as that of independence from colonial rule of the islands, though as a Federation rather than separate states. James was a friend of Learie Constantine and a useful cricketer in his own right. His major cricketing work was Beyond A Boundary published in 1963. John Arlott begins his Wisden review of this book with: ‘1963 has been marked by the publication of a cricket book so outstanding as to compel any reviewer to check his adjectives several times before he describes it and, since he is likely to be dealing with superlatives, to measure them carefully to avoid over-praise – which this book does not need.’ Arlott goes on to describe it as the finest cricket book ever written. James inter-weaves the history of West Indies cricket with some superb portraits of notable cricketers, but more essentially the whole ethos of West Indian life and of the attitudes of writers and thinkers in general. It