Cricket's Historians

232 A Rival for The Cricketer mere handful. This met with fierce criticism and Arlott was reinstated for the 1981 edition. On the magazine front, David Frith was ‘sacked’ as editor of The Cricketer in July 1978 – those who knew Frith’s personality had been surprised that he survived so long. He is too much of a free spirit for such an establishment posting. In his place Brocklehurst and Swanton opted for a safe pair of hands and appointed Reg Hayter, famous for never turning down the offer of a job. A sporting journalist, he was a non-stop worker, and whilst he had a reputation for producing readable copy on time and making certain the end product was in the bookstalls on time, he was not really the person to check and cross-check the cricketing minutiae on which The Cricketer had built its foundations. Reginald James Hayter was born in Paddington in December 1913, educated at St Marylebone Grammar School and, at the age of 18, joined the Cricket Reporting Agency. He moved on to become the principal cricket reporter for the Press Association. After the Second World War, Hayter, working for Reuter’s, travelled overseas with several England Test sides. In 1955 he set up the independent Hayter’s Agency. This was to become the largest sports agency in England and was to be a training ground for many a tyro sports reporter. Hayter, through knowing many sportsmen, then became an agent for sporting stars, notably, in the early days, Denis Compton. He is credited with writing several cricket books, but undoubtedly ghosted many more. Before the war he had been an active cricketer, playing chiefly for Stanmore. Hayter died in Northwood, Middlesex, in March 1994. Whilst Hayter and his assistant, Alan Hughes, kept The Cricketer going, David Frith was not idle. He found financial backing to float a new magazine, Wisden Cricket Monthly , and persuaded a number of high profile cricketing figures to man the Editorial Board – John Arlott, Ted Dexter, David Gower, Jim Laker and Bob Willis. Patrick Eagar, the photographer, was poached from The Cricketer . All the new Board initially wrote columns, or pieces for the new publication, which, whilst concentrating on Test and first-class cricket, also had a leaning towards the history of the game; its obituaries and book reviews being a major feature, the latter mainly