Twenty-One Years of the ACS

Twenty-One Years ofthe ACS Among many developments in cricket during the past two contentious decades, it can be claimed that the foundation of the Association of Cricket Statisticians(ACS)in March,1973, has proved to have been one of the more beneficial. A game whose literature has always been vast and scholarly, has been provided for the first time with an authoritative body to compile accurate figures and records, to research their historical background and the players concerned.No-oneamong the thirty people at the inaugural meeting could have envisaged the world-wide standing that the ACS was to achieve.Nor did any of them give a moment's thought to the possibility that before its 21st anniversary was reached, the new organization would be in a position to buy its own headquarters. When the formal purchase is completed on December 1,1993, it will be the culmination ofa remarkable success story and not least,an unlikely one to have occurred during a recession. By possessing its own premises, the ACS will stand alone among the clubs and societies of its type in the cricket world that exist to help ordinary enthusiasts enjoy their hobby. For the preceding six years, the ACS had an office and storage space at Sport-in-Print Ltd., a bookshop owned by Peter Wynne-Thomas,its secretary, at 3 Radcliffe Road,West Bridgford,Nottingham,opposite the Trent Bridge ground.Now,in a switch of roles, the ACS has bought the freehold property and Sport-in-Print has become its tenant. This transaction was first discussed by the ACS committee on November 30, 1991,and suited both parties at that time and had the approval of their financial advisers. Before going any further, it was at the same meeting that John Featherstone, the marketing manager, reflected the belief of many members when he suggested that the ACS involvement with history should be stressed by adding 'and Historians' to the ACS name. This was approved at the 1992 AGM and any reservations some members felt were partially alleviated by the fact that 'ACS' would remain as a logo and, in all probability,in common usage as well and this has proved to be the case. As 19 of the 21 years dealt with in this booklet concern the Association as it was first known, the author has used ACS throughout these pages, rather than ACSH. Meanwhile the ACS's continuous expansion and its huge quantity ofstock had made it essential to retain a proper base and a permanent headquarters adjacent to a Test match ground made sense in several ways for a cricket organization. The Radcliffe Road bookshop had already become a regular place of call for ACS members and other cricket followers and the property seemed to be within the price range that could be afforded. A sub-committee formed by Derek Lodge(chairman),John Featherstone and Jim Ledbetter, the treasurer, was set up to investigate every aspect of the purchase.By the following March,enough preliminary work had been done to convince the AGM that the 'feasibility' of acquiring an ACS headquarters should be explored and that a report should be