Cricket's Historians

The Formation of the Association of Cricket Statisticians original ambitions back in 1946, as the Chairman’s Report for that year had noted: “Statistics. It is particularly unfortunate that it has still been found impossible to issue the first-class figures for the period 1919-1939 since so much painstaking work has been done by so many members. It was hoped that it would be possible to have these figures printed so that with financial support from the Society’s current finances a very small contribution would be required from members. It would appear however that the cost of type-setting for such a mass of statistics is so high that the cost of printing is quite prohibitive.” On inspection however compiling statistics for 1919 was not straightforward, due to the numerous errors in the Wisden printed match scores of that season, so the Society decided to begin with the 1920 season. W.S.Conder had retired as the man in charge of the Society’s statistical output in 1961. He was succeeded by Michael Fordham, who retired due to taking on extra work when Roy Webber died suddenly. For a year or two the statistical arm of the Society was almost in abeyance – members sent in compilations for publication in the Journal, but on an ad hoc basis. In 1965 Eddie Solomon was appointed ‘Statistical Chairman’. He dusted off the files and appealed for members who specialised in a specific county to compile that county’s player-by-player record for 1920. The resultant booklet was issued in 1966, unfortunately incorrectly laid out; Solomon resigned in haste and Gross reluctantly filled the vacancy. Solomon’s first published material had been a modest four page pamphlet containing the Gillette Cup Statistics for 1965. He had acted as scorer for Middlesex on odd occasions and in 1968 scored the Test Matches. For about 20 years Solomon served on the Middlesex C.C.C. committee, retiring in 1996. He also wrote a short history of Edmonton Cricket Club. He died in 2006. Returning to Brooke and Lambert, they received little response to their suggestion of a statistical group within The Cricket Society, but undeterred 215