ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2020

4 Preface The ACS Overseas First-Class Annual has now attained its twelfth edition but never before has it covered a year like this, in which, during the first few months of 2020, normal cricketing considerations, and indeed the active pursuit of the game itself, were swept aside by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. As the new and frightening disease spread like wildfire across the globe, nation after nation sought to stem its progress by shutting down normal life, closing shops and schools as well as offices and other workplaces. Cricket, like other sports, was stopped dead in its tracks. From 16 March, when two three-day matches concluded in Sri Lanka, there was no first-class cricket of any kind, anywhere, until 8 July when England and West Indies began a Test match behind closed doors at Southampton. This hiatus of 113 days was the longest period without first-class cricket since the 172-day interval from 11 April to 29 September 1944 (also a time when the world had other matters on its mind). This reminds me that I am indebted to Keith Walmsley for tracking down one of the less obvious statistical highlights of the present edition. As he and I were discussing long intervals without first- class cricket, it occurred to me to wonder what the converse record might be: not the most days without a first-class match, but the most first-class matches in progress on a single day. With his wonted industry and enthusiasm, Keith set out to find the answer; and within a very few days was able to report that on 14 February 2020, ironically only weeks before coronavirus forced a lengthy interval, there had been no fewer than 39 matches in progress. This appears virtually certain to be the all-time record: the nearest approach is 37 on 7 December 2018. The pandemic-induced shutdown came towards the end of the 2019/20 season and its country- by-country impact is considered in the narrative introduction to each section of the Annual . Some countries’ first-class seasons were complete, or virtually so, whereas elsewhere there were many cancellations and countries had to make their own provisions to deal with uncompleted competitions. In the case of Sri Lanka, 25 matches were played in August 2020 to complete Tier A of the Premier League; given their timing these matches are classified as belonging to the 2020 season, rather than 2019/20, but in order to keep the whole competition together they are included in the Sri Lanka section of the Annual . This means that the normal ‘Matches in 2020’ section is not needed. In addition, the normal listing of abandoned matches has itself been abandoned this year, since the numbers to be listed would have been excessive. But not all the changes in this year’s Annual result from the pandemic. Notably, a reorganization of Pakistan’s domestic season, planned and implemented before anyone had heard of the coronavirus, meant far fewer matches than usual in that country. Another major development in Pakistan, which we are delighted to record in these pages, is the return of Test match cricket to the country after an interval of more than a decade. The much smaller first-class programme in Pakistan combines with the curtailment of several countries’ first-class seasons by the pandemic to mean that this year’s Annual is noticeably slimmer, with 604 pages compared with 704 last year. The ACS Committee has recognized this in the cover price, which is set at £60 having stood at £70 for some years. Despite the effects of the pandemic, regular purchasers will find the structure of the Annual familiar enough. Each Test-playing nation has its own section consisting of a brief narrative introduction and the relevant league tables, followed by the full score of each first-class match. This year’s Annual , like its predecessors, thus provides scorecards for all first-class matches throughout the world except for those in England andWales, for which the reader is referred to Wisden . It therefore remains the case that a full printed record of first-class cricket may be maintained by making only two purchases each year: this Annual and Wisden .