Cricket's Historians

Wisden challenges Lillywhite researched the subject and his treatise was published in The Journal of The Cricket Society Vol 9, no.4 (Spring 1980) and following issues. Anyone seeking detailed information should consult Piesse’s articles. In brief, the first annual The Australian Cricketer’s Guide lasted three seasons, 1856-57 to 1858-59 and was financed largely by a Melbourne businessman, William Fairfax. The next attempt at a publication The Victorian Cricketer’s Guide , was by the Cambridge University and Surrey cricketer, turned journalist, WilliamHammersley, which survived only two seasons, the last being 1863- 64. Hammersley was the sports editor of the Australasian newspaper for 16 years, retiring in 1882. He died in November 1886 aged 60. The third annual Australian Cricketer’s Guide was another to survive only two issues. The editor was Thomas Wentworth Wills, who played cricket for Kent and Victoria, but is better remembered for getting a blue at Cambridge, though never actually a student there. Over in Canada The Canadian Cricketer’s Guide appeared in 1858, then after a long interval twice more, in 1876 and 1877; across the border the magazine The American Cricketer was founded in 1877. It was to continue until 1929, its contents were almost exclusively contemporary. 41