Twenty-One Years of the ACS

the same series appeared,on Sussex Cricketers, as with all the rest, printed by Michael Tranter, though his firm has moved three times in the interim. John Arlott, who was regularly a generous reviewer of ACS publications, noted the Warwickshire book in the 1974 Wisden as 'A worthy piece of concentrated researching,' though Brooke remains the first to admit that it boresigns ofearly teething problems. This Warwickshire booklet, of course, will always hold a special place in ACS annals and so, too, does Issue No. 1 of The Cricket Statistician^ which was distributed in June, 1973. It comprised three foolscap pages(used on both sides)and wasjointly produced by Brooke and Sue Norris, who had been the only woman at the inaugural meeting but who did not stay within the ACS for long. A members' address list and routine announcements formed the contents for what Brooke in a chairman's message described as an 'introductory newsletter...we hope this is the necessarily modest beginning of something really worthwhile. Our strength at the moment is enthusiasm, our weakness finance ...'. Issue No. 2 in August occupied four foolscap pages (again both sides)and recorded the first death of an ACS member,something, somehow unexpected so soon after the ACS had begun. This second issue contained the first of four contributions to the ACS journal by the renowned Rowland Bowen,who at this time was still at the height of his powers as the rem'fo/c among the game's historians. Bowen's subject was 'The Classification ofMatches,' written in typically pungentfashion and still vintage stuff when re-read twenty years on. Bowen's Cricket Quarterly^ which first appeared in 1963,coupled with his 1970 book Cricket - A History ofits Growth and Development^ had added new dimensions to cricket research and he has remained an inspiration to many who have followed in his footsteps. Several leading lights in the ACS were connected with Bowen's Quarterly before its sad demise in 1971.He initially held reservations about the competence of the ACS to fulfil its aims and it was a compliment when he became a member in 1976. Bowen died unexpectedly two years later and it is permissible to feel that he would havecome to recognise the ACS's worth as the years passed.Ona lighter note Issue No. 2 of the Journal was also noteworthy for the first instance of Brooke venting his spleen in print. Those who enjoy reading Brooke in this mood will wish to know that the first victim of his editorial wrath was an unnamed 'senior and respected' Daily Telegraph writer, who 'ought to have known better' than to suggest that limited overs cricket should be given first-class status. A directive from a special general meeting held in October, 1973,said that a regular newsletter should be the ACS's primary objective in publishing and led to Issue No.3being an enlarged,quarto-sized,soft-covered booklet of 28 pages. In retrospect, bearing in mind the heavy and varied publishing programme of later years, this was an unexpected resolution for the members to have passed.They did empower the committee to use any surplus money to produce other booklets at its discretion but it was to be nearly three 13