Minor Counties Championship 1909

18 Volunteers are being sought for Dorset and Wiltshire. Another not listed above who has contributed to this book is David Harvey who kindly proof read the book prior to publication. The appreciation of colleagues for the assistance given by the County Record Offices and County Libraries up and down the country must be recorded, as must that of the National Archive at Kew and also the staff at the new reading room at the British Newspaper Library at St Pancras, which replaced the earlier site at Colindale. The scores produced by the project are recognised as the official scores for the championship by both the Minor Counties Cricket Association and the Association of Cricket Statisticians. For the first six issues, the compilation of the averages was done “by hand” by the County Statisticians supported by Andrew Lowe. Since the 1901 issue, the scores have been put on the CricketArchive computer database by Peter Griffiths , which has considerably reduced the work burdens on the County Statisticians for the compilation of the averages, whilst continuing to ensure high standards of accuracy. Peter Griffiths continues to be responsible for the typesetting of the books. The valuable contribution to later volumes by Philip Bailey must also be recorded. We must also continue to acknowledge the significant contribution of the former editor Tony Webb who supplied all the original draft scorecards and much other information on the 1909 season. As with the 1908 book, this volume has been the result of a team effort, with Julian Lawton Smith overseeing the efforts of Peter Griffiths , Colin Munford and Stephen Musk . Julian has taken charge of the production of the book through its lifecycle while Peter has been the recipient of all the scorecards, updating them prior to generating the vast array of statistics that are a major part of the book. Colin has yet again compiled the County summary pages and applied his meticulous attention to detail to identify gaps and correct errors in the scores while Stephen reviewed the available MCCA minutes and newspaper reports for 1909 and has written the bulk of this introduction. The resolution of queries and final decision making was done through the consensus of these four people. Finally, can any errors in this publication please be brought to the attention of Julian Lawton Smith so they can be corrected in our next book. February 2015 Stephen Musk – Editor; Introduction Julian Lawton Smith – Editor and Project Coordinator Tel 01865 768258 Email: lawtonsmith@supanet.com