Cricket's Historians

Chapter 2 Wisden challenges Lillywhite The introduction of the daily newspaper did not seem to dent the popularity of Fred Lillywhite’s Guide. The Winter Edition of 1862 has a headline on its cover: ‘Sixteenth Edition, Making a previous sale of 88,000’. Fred Lillywhite made various claims in a number of editions about the sales figures. David Smith, in his study of the Guide, suggests dividing the figure by four to obtain a more accurate statistic. The 1863 edition contains 50 more pages than its immediate predecessor, but Lillywhite apologises for a price increase from 1s 3d to 1s 6d. Two other publishers spied a lucrative market in the cricket annual business and in 1863-64 new rivals emerged. The first was the Cricket Chronicle for the season 1863 compiled by Capt. W.Bayly. It ran to 518 pages, 5 ½'' by 3 ¾'' and was crammed with cricket match scores, many with bowling analyses, a few with reports. Nothing on quite this scale had been attempted before. The publishers were A.H.Baily & Co of London; the price 2s 6d. The publishers had launched Baily’s Magazine of Sports and Pastimes in 1860, a monthly along the lines of the old Sporting Magazine . There was a chapter each month on cricket, but like The Sporting Magazine the newcomer mainly dealt with field sports. It was successful, and very good on the major Public Schools’ cricket matches and results. It lasted until 1926, whereas the new annual failed. The 1863 edition was the sole issue. The identity of Captain Bayly has confounded historians; two possibilities are W.H. Knight and W.H.Leverall. The former certainly had connections with Baily’s Magazine , whilst the latter worked for Bell’s 29