Cricket's Historians

Wisden challenges Lillywhite There were, in addition, several other individuals whose interest lay in cricket’s history and one was Charles Box. Box was originally the proprietor of a small school in South Malling, Kent, but the school failed. He had already published two books on cricket, first The Cricketers’ Manual , which appeared in several editions between 1848 and 1851 – bibliophiles continue to debate exactly how many. The Manual was written using the pseudonym ‘Bat’ and the work does touch on the historical rise of cricket. In 1868 Box produced The Theory and Practice of Cricket From its Origins to the Present Times. By now he had taken up journalism as a full time occupation and been appointed the cricket correspondent of The Times . Box’s magnum opus appeared in 1877 The English Game of Cricket published by The Field . It was the first major work devoted to the history of the game, completely dwarfing the chapters in Pycroft and Nyren. After sections on cricket history generally, Box then treats each of the main cricketing counties separately, with a number of full match scores, as well as the batting averages for 1875. There follows chapters on England tours to America and Australia, also a Glossary of words and phrases, as well as a decent index. The complete work runs to 596 pages, 9½'' by 7½''. Box understood the problems of historical research as the following passage makes abundantly clear: ‘Individuals who had to write for a living – no matter what the subject – seized upon the facts and theories propounded by Lambert and Nyren to garnish a substantial dish of veritable knowledge with fables and fancies, and thus make what in the esteem of the literary world would be ‘dry reading’ a subject of some interest. Strutt was rushed after as one of the hardest used books in the Museum, and among the thumb-worn and greasy pages few appear at the present day to have been more frequently scanned than those relating to cricket. But the paucity of information afforded, forced into play a lively imagination, and a great deal of nonsense was the result. 37