First-Class Matches Australia 2005/06 and 2006/07 and South Africa 2006/07

Preface Printed scorecards of all first-class matches in England and Wales are, of course, found in each year’s Wisden . And the ACS, stepping into the breach left by the demise of a number of publications such as Wisden Australia and Indian Cricket , now publishes its own Overseas Annual with cards of all first-class matches played outside England and Wales. The current first-class game is thus catered for; but there remain a substantial number of matches prior to 2007 for which the scorecard has appeared in print, if at all, only in ephemeral sources such as newspapers or magazines. This issue was identified in the questionnaire addressed to ACS members during 2015; and the ACS Committee has responded by initiating a short series of publications that aims to plug the gaps in the printed record. The present volume is the first of this series. It contains the scorecards of 146 Australian and South African matches of relatively recent vintage. For Australia, this volume fills the hiatus between the final edition of Wisden Australia (which covered the 2004/05 season) and the publication of all overseas matches by the ACS commencing with the 2007/08 season. It thus covers the 2005/06 and 2006/07 Australian seasons (as well as a few matches designated as 2006), and for the sake of completeness the decision has been taken to include all cards for those seasons including matches, such as the Tests, for which a printed score is already easily available. Matches in Australia prior to 2005 are found in a variety of publications such as Webster , Allan’s Annual or Wisden (either the original Almanack or its Australian offshoot), to say nothing of the ACS’s own ‘Green’ series, so this volume effectively completes the printed record for the first-class game in Australia. The case of South Africa is somewhat different. The South African Cricket Annual continues in publication to the present, and up to 2005/06 it included scorecards not only of the principal first-class competition between the six franchise sides but also of the second-string tournament for provincial teams. From the 2006/07 season, however, it has included only potted scores for the latter competition. Since 2007/08, all overseas matches have been published by ACS, so the result is an awkward interval of one season in which the full scores of the provincial competition have never appeared in book form. This volume closes that gap. It is hoped that ACS members will welcome the increased availability and accessibility of first-class scores that will result from this series. Now that recent gaps in the Australian and South African record have been filled by this initial volume, the Committee has agreed that the series should next turn its attention to recent seasons in India between the closure of Indian Cricket (final season 2002/03) and the publication of all overseas cards by the ACS from 2007/08. The next volume, accordingly, will cover the Indian seasons of 2003/04 and 2004/05; it is scheduled for publication in February 2017. John Bryant June 2016 5