Cricket Witness No 6 - His Captain's Hand on His Shoulder Smote

4 Foreword Eric Midwinter opened the batting by producing a typically scholarly volume entitled Class Peace to launch this series. Now he is returning for a second innings with an equally erudite book focussing this time on the evolution of cricket in literature aimed at schoolboys during the late nineteenth century plus the first half of the twentieth century – the latter being the time when the author himself was growing up and catching the cricket bug. This is the sixth book in the Cricket Witness series and since Eric’s first offering, there have been other titles looking at cricket during the Crimean War, the growth of women’s cricket during the inter-war era, the rise of Glamorgan to their first-ever county title in 1948 and a history of the St. Helen’s ground in Swansea – the only first-class venue in the UK where players and spectators alike can view the sea. As I write these introductory notes, other books for this series are in the course of preparation, including a volume on cricket in Lowestoft, plus another on Old Boys cricket in Sussex as well as one analysing the geographical variety of grounds where counties, and shortly the 100-ball franchises, stage games. As Editor of this series, drawing heavily on original research and other socio-historic themes, I would be delighted to receive proposals for further books of between 25,000 and 40,000 words. Please contact me on secretary@acscricket. com and I will send you a copy of our updated information to authors, plus our style guide. I look forward to hearing from you. Andrew Hignell