The Cricket Statistician No 195

55 more important things in life. Had he put cricket first, he could have found himself a nice cushy middle-class parish to live a private life of comparative ease; instead, like David Sheppard, he devoted himself to what he saw as the noblest causes. He was an admirable man and I very much recommend this book. John Ward Also Received Seventy Years at the Crease (Geoffrey Longfield, pp60, softback, £7 including postage from the author at randgdeaks@btinternet.com , tel 01444 457585) is a celebration of the cricket club in the Sussex village of Cuckfield (a matter of a few miles from the village of Lindfield where this reviewer once lived). Given that Cuckfield plays in the Sussex Premier League, however, the booklet is not about village cricket at its most rustic. It is a highly personal approach, as the author played his first match for the club in 1950 and is still playing the game seventy years later; most of his cricket has been for Cuckfield. Much of the book is taken up with his reminiscences of the many personalities he has encountered during his life in village cricket, including some (mainly from overseas) who went on to play at Test level and one or two who are familiar as ACS members (our own Roger Heavens is mentioned a number of times, including an lbw decision that still rankles with the author!). The latest in David Battersby’s series on monograms on cricketing themes, The Colourful Life of Peter David Swart (card covers, pp28, limited edition of 75 signed and numbered copies, £7.50, available from the author at 39 Naunton Lane, Cheltenham, GL53 7BJ, dave@talbot. force9.co.uk ), is a tribute to the Rhodesian who played two seasons for Glamorgan in 1978 and 1979 as well as several seasons in the Lancashire League. ‘Colourful’ is perhaps a euphemism, along with descriptions of his attitude to life being ‘robust’, while former Glamorgan captain Robin Hobbs noted that Swart had a reputation as ‘a wild man’. While a kind man and a likeable character, who never gave less than his best, he appears to have had a difficult relationship with Rodney Ontong (for reasons unclear) and with county coach Tom Cartwright, and his hard-living influence was perhaps not always a positive one where some of the younger more impressionable players were concerned. It was possibly for this reason that his services were not retained after Glamorgan’s deeply disappointing 1979 season, despite his winning the Player of the Season award. David Battersby’s enjoyable monograph covers not only his seasons at Glamorgan but also his early seasons in South Africa, his Lancashire League appearances (sporadic seasons from 1969 to 1982) and his Currie Cup cricket for Western Province. The Sussex Cricket Museum and Educational Trust has produced an affectionate tribute to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, produced in time for what would have been the Duke’s 100 th birthday on 10 June 2021. Prince Philip: Cricket’s Royal Duke (by Robin Marlar, Colin Maynard and Ted Dexter, card covers, pp44, £14 including postage) is a series of recollections of the Duke, the centrepiece being memories (accompanied by photographs) of two matches at Arundel in 1953 and 1957 between elevens captained by the Dukes of Edinburgh and Norfolk, which were witnessed by crowds well in excess of 10,000 (30,000 according to