Lives in Cricket No 37 - William Clarke

115 Acknowledgements There can be very few people who have innocently drifted into the library at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground in the last two years and not been inflicted by my William Clarke ‘problem’. In other words at the time of their arrival whatever piece of the Clarke jigsaw I was trying to find. Those who are regular library users suffered even greater pain. I thank you all for putting up with my tales of woe and sometimes suggesting books that might provide the solution and at other times going home to play with their computers to see if the answer was hidden somewhere in the ether. Keith Warsop and Martin Wilson read through the first draft and kindly made corrections and suggestions. David Jeater acted as the final editor on behalf of the publishers; he suggested a number of additional paragraphs by way of explanation. These have largely been incorporated and will assist the general reader to understand more readily the circumstances of the age in which Clarke flourished. I have tried to recall all the brave souls who helped; if I’ve inadvertently omitted your name from the following, please forgive me: Duncan Anderson, David Beaumont, Steve Bilton, Rob Brooke, Derek Drake, Angela Geddes, John and Michael Goulder, David Gretton, Duncan Hamilton, Jerry Lodge, Chris O’Brien, Mick Pope, Malcolm Powell, Claire Webberley, Steve Zaleski. Derek Drake also contributed to much of the statistical material. In the production of the book itself I wish to thank City Press Leeds for their attention to the detail of typesetting; to Roger Mann and Richard Shaw for their help with illustrations; to David Taylor for his indexing; and to Kit Bartlett and Jenny Moulton for their proofreading. P.W-T. West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire June 2014