Twenty-One Years of the ACS

organises its auctions, and he is among the presumably small handful of ACS members who can claim to have bowled four batsmen with four consecutive balls.It happened in an ecumenical match and his victims, rather unusually,in succession,were a Roman Catholic priest,a Church ofEngland vicar and then his curate, and finally an Anglican lay reader, who were all deceived by gentle medium pace. Lorimer led the discussions on the ACS's future at the 1990 AGM and was responsible for a questionnaire on long term plans, which it was decided to send to all members.It drew a full and constructive response and the preferences deducible from the answers have been borne in mind by the committee since. In summary it was clear that there would be support for the pre-1900 match scores'series if it should be extended to 1914 at least; and that updated versions of the first six county cricketers' booklets would also be welcomed. (These first appeared between 1973 and 1979 and dealt with Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Somerset, Middlesex, Leicestershire and Gloucestershire). The famous cricketers' series looked likely to be guaranteed popularity for many years ahead and seemed destined to become,as it were,the ACS flagship. All three annuals - Second XI, Minor Counties and the International Year Book - and the Journal were acknowledged as established successes. Clearly they represent an obviously constant and hard core for the ACS output for a long time. There was also interest in seeing the statistical surveys and grounds' booklets continue. The members put forward more than 50suggestions for new subjects for publication and the complete list is given in the Winter,1990,Journal and need not be repeated here.It was illuminating, however,that further booklets on overseas states, provinces and other regional teams were most in demand and that,a shade unexpectedly,a series on Minor Counties' cricketers occupied second place in the list. Overall this internal survey was well worthwhile and confirmed that the ACS had many years of hard work and fruitful publishing to tackle, though Malcolm Lorimer has repeatedly stressed that the ACS should never become merely a publishing outlet at the expense of original research. Robert Brooke, rightly, has also ridden this particular hobby-horse hard for many years. It is something that must not be neglected and Lorimer has already persuaded the committee, in principle, to sanction research for cricket references in newspapers between 1820 and 1850. The eventual intention is to gather these together for what should provide a fascinating read. This is a project, though, that will require much arduous and time consuming work, something it has in common with most of the other booklets mentioned for future schedules.It focuses attention on the fact that the vast majority ofACS research falls on the broad and willing shoulders ofa small,dedicated group, none of whom are getting any younger. This is an appropriate juncture, perhaps, to appeal for more members to come forward to share research.There is a rapidly increasing need for younger,more active helpers if the ACS is to maintain a full and varied programme. Already 40