Minor Counties Championship 1914

team of representatives from each county and determined the layout and content of the books. These annuals are a magnificent legacy from him and a most valuable record of Minor Counties cricket history. Pete Griffiths – Pete initiated a major step forward for the project by developing programs to generate the statistics for the book from the CricketArchive database. For the first six issues, the compilation of the averages was done “by hand” by the County Statisticians supported by Andrew Lowe. From 1901 the use of this database has considerably reduced the work burdens on the County Statisticians for the compilation of the averages, whilst continuing to ensure high standards of accuracy. The draft scorecards are loaded onto the CricketArchive database, with Pete’s programs carrying out strict validation on the entries. This step is followed by the generation of the vast array of statistics that are a major part of the book production. Pete has also remained responsible for the preparation and typesetting of the books. His commitment to this project has been immense and his advice readily sought and given. Colin Munford – involved from the beginning, Colin has represented his own county Suffolk but also generously covered Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire for many years in the absence of representatives from those counties. While this has made him a significant contributor to the volumes, it is the additional work that he has done that sets him apart from others. Each year he has compiled the County Summary pages for every county and applied his meticulous attention to detail to identify gaps and correct errors in the scorecards. He has also ensured that consistency is maintained in the style and content of the Notes attached to each scorecard. The resulting high quality of the annuals is largely down to him. Stephen Musk – the Norfolk representative since the first annual, Stephen took on a far greater role after Tony Webb’s editorship came to an end. He has written the bulk of the introduction to subsequent annuals, a not inconsiderable task that includes commentary based on the available MCCA minutes and the selection of highlights from the season in question. He has also prepared the section on Missing Data and recorded the main batting partnerships in the competition each year. In recent seasons, Stephen has helped further by generating many of the Notes that form the match report at the bottom of each scorecard. His enthusiasm and support for the project have been invaluable. Tony Percival – a contributor from the start of the project, Tony has been the representative for Cheshire, and also previously Staffordshire. Over the years, he has continued to provide additional biographical information on players in the course of his research for the series of Cricketers books by County. He has also chaired the annual project team meeting at Trent Bridge. Julian Lawton Smith – the Oxfordshire representative from the commencement of the project in 1999, Julian has been the editor for the last 8 annuals, from 1907 to date. He has managed the entire production cycle of these annuals, with enormous help from those listed above, and organised the annual meetings at Trent Bridge. Maintaining communication with all the county representatives has been a significant part of his role and applying their input to the draft scorecards to arrive at the final outcome. He comments that “although it has been a very time consuming, and often frustrating, exercise it has been exceedingly rewarding and I hope that someone will ‘pick up the baton’ and continue this valuable research.” 27