County Cricket Matters Issue 21
Martin Chandler |Published: 2024
Pages: 38
Author: Chave, Annie (Editor)
Publisher: County Cricket Matters
Rating: 5 stars
County Cricket Matters comes of age in style with this, its 21st edition. The slightly precocious young tyro of a fanzine has matured into a classy piece of cricket literature, whilst never losing sight of what gave rise to its creation, a deep love of the county game.
I enjoyed issue one as much as I have all of its successors, but did I really expect it to be around five years later? Probably not is the answer to that one but, now having had the very great pleasure of meeting editor Annie Chave, I can see it was always a racing certainty that CCM would, as it has, thrive.
A wistful editorial from Annie ends on a more sanguine note before, as ever, the issue begins with an interview by Annie. This time the man answering the questions is Courtney Walsh, a legend in both Gloucestershire and the Caribbean. One of the men who was there as West Indies’ dominance of the international game ebbed away is asked, on this occasion, in the main about his thoughts on his 15 year tenure in the West Country.
Richard Heller, co-host of a fine cricketing podcast with Peter Oborne which I hope may one day come out of cold storage, makes what I believe is his first contribution to CCM. A Cricket School …. of Everything is an entertaining glimpse at the sort of education our county clubs might be able to provide and, I suspect, is not entirely tongue in cheek.
In its first look at the literature of the game CCM 21 contains a piece by Tony Watts, which amounts to a preview of his recent book, Town v Gown: A History of Cricket in Cambridge. The eagle eyed will have noted that to that I have added a review this weekend, which you can find here.
On the question of matters of a literary nature Fraser Simm takes a journey back to 1961 through the lens of of his 1962 Wisden. It is an edition I remember well, primarily because of its coverage of Hampshire’s first ever County Championship. That isn’t however what Simm recalls, and in large part that is the whole point of what he has to say.
Finally on the matter of the written word CCM thoroughly deserves the pat on the back that it receives in Chris Fauske’s reflective article on the twenty previous issues. As a reviewer who has given five stars to each of the twenty it will come as no surprise that I have no hesitation in endorsing his views.
The history of the game plays its part once more in CCM21. First of all Garry Clarke, fittingly in the midst of an English winter, contributes an essay on that perennially interesting subject of the once common concept of the cricketer/footballer who plays both sports at the highest level. I did spot an error in this one, in that Reginald Erskine ‘Tip’ Foster was not England captain when he put together his remarkable debut innings of 287 against Australia in 1903/04, but at the end of the day he did skipper England at both sports and Garry’s piece remains a most enjoyable one.
And then there is what is undoubtedly one of my favourite essays to have appeared over CCM’s twenty one issues, Deputy Editor Jeremy Lonsdale’s Hi-de-Hi Cricketers. I did, as I read through the piece, realise that I was vaguely aware of the employing of former professional cricketers as coaches at the holiday camps that were so popular in England after the Second World War, but no more than that.
If Lonsdale is at a loose end after completing his splendid biography of Bill Bowes then he could do a lot worse than expand this article into if not a full book then at least an extended monograph. If so he needs to get on with it though, so that he can tap into the memories of the inevitably decreasing number of octogenarians around who must still recall the far off days of the early 1950s and being coached at Butlin’s by the likes of Bill Voce and Patsy Hendren.
Malcolm Lorimer has a number of strings to his bow, Methodist minister, author, publisher and member of the heritage team at Lancashire. His contribution to CCM21 is on the subject of the exhibition he is currently jointly curating at Emirates Old Trafford showcasing the influence and importance of West Indian cricketers in the various leagues in Lancashire.
There are two more historical articles, albeit ones that are of the autobiographical kind. Richard Barrow tells of his introduction to the county game when, with a couple of fellow members of his local church choir, he went to see Kent play Sussex at Hastings in 1968. It was a interesting game too, a draw, but Ted Dexter’s first Championship match for more than two years, in which Lord Ted rolled back the years with a fine double century.
In a not dissimilar vein is Greg Watts Cricket Beyond the Hills, which tells the story of how cricket, and more particularly Derbyshire cricket, introduced him to a wider, multi-cultural world than that he was brought up in.
Which leaves just two more contributions, Phil Thomson on his experience in being able to attend at two of last summer’s cricket festivals, those at Cheltenham and Scarborough, and The Lost Art of Utter Incompetence by Roger Morgan-Grenville a story from what remains for many the most important aspect of cricket, the club game.
And there is The Void’s crossword about which, for once, I will not make my usual comment, or at least not directly. This time it is sufficient for me to say that Chris Fauske and I are ad idem.
Which brings to an end my look at another genuine five star contribution to cricket writing, so let us all raise a glass to Annie, and express the hope that she maintains her enthusiasm for another five years and beyond.
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