Cricket's Historians

246 The Booming Market for Cricket Books such as every double-century, or every hat-trick. Instead there was a more detailed analysis of the actual current record, with illustrations where appropriate. Both books were published in 1983. The Guinness Book of Cricket Facts & Feats by Bill Frindall and The Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records by the present writer, Peter Wynne- Thomas, both followed the format set out, on different subjects, by the two publishers. David Frith, in his review, suggests that the two books are on a collision course, but in reality, though both nominally covered the same ground, they were completely different animals. Both sold well enough (such was the demand for cricket titles) that the publishers later issued revised editions. The Hamlyn book stayed strictly with the A to Z format of the original World of Cricket , whereas Guinness split its book into sections, rather on the lines of the revised World of Cricket . The second major ‘clash’ also involved the Hamlyn publishing group. Hamlyn commissioned Philip Bailey, Philip Thorn and Peter Wynne- Thomas to compile a book containing the basic biographical and statistical data on all cricketers, who had played in a first-class match in the British Isles from 1864 and to include the most notable players of the pre-1864 era. The book was to appear as a single volume. Collins Willow commissioned Robert Brooke to compile a similar work but starting in 1744, though this would be issued in a number of volumes. The Hamlyn Who’s Who appeared in 1984. Reviewing the work, David Frith was generally happy with the end product, save for two points, firstly that each entry was given the forenames as they appeared on the relevant birth certificate – no nicknames were shown and no indication that players were sometimes better known by their second forename – secondly that the statistics adhered to the ACS Guides on first-class cricket and therefore both J.B.Hobbs and W.G.Grace were shown to have played in a different set of matches to those printed annually in Wisden . The book, over 1,000 pages in length, retailed at £30 and was published in conjunction with the ACS. CollinsWillowdecided to issue a first volume covering players since 1945.