The Cricket Society
The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has more than 2000 members in the United Kingdom and the cricket playing countries of the world. Its current President is John Barclay.
The Wetherall Awards began in 1967 and presently continue in four separate categories:[1]
- Leading all-rounder in English first-class game
- Leading Young All-Rounder in the English First-Class Game
- Leading all-rounder in Schools cricket
- Leading all-rounder at Repton School
The Cricket Society instigated an Annual Book of the Year Award in 1970 that now, in association with the MCC, hosts an Awards Evening in the Long Room at Lord's each spring.[2]
Throughout the winter months, The Society holds monthly meetings, featuring famous names from cricket, for members and guests at the Royal Overseas League in Park Place, London SW1.
Through its charitable trust, it raises money to coach underprivileged children in the skills of cricket. They link up with various organisations such as the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation to achieve these aims.
The Society has a cricket team which plays at a number of venues each season. It also holds monthly meetings for the members in London (as detailed above), Bath, Birmingham and Durham at which invited speakers address the audience. These activities are held to maintain an interest in cricket and both inform and entertain its members and guests through the off-season.
The Cricket Society publishes a journal, bi-annually and a regular news bulletin, 8 times per year, for its subscribed membership.
The Society commissioned E.W. Padwick to compile a comprehensive bibliography of cricket literature under the title A Bibliography of Cricket. The first edition, published in 1977 by the Library Association had 8,294 entries.[3] A revised edition, published in 1984, extended this to over 10,000 entries (ISBN 978-0853659020). A second volume, published in 1991 as Padwick's Bibliography of Cricket, Volume 2, was compiled by Stephen Eley and Peter Griffiths and covers works published between 1980 and 1990 (ISBN 978-0853655282).
Current Officers
- President John Barclay
- Vice-President Hubert Doggart
- Vice-President Chris Lowe
- Vice-President Vic Marks
- Vice-President Sir Tim Rice.[4]
- Vice-President Derek Underwood
Executive Committee
- Chairman Nigel Hancock
- Vice Chairman Derek Barnard
- Secretary David Wood
- Treasurer Phil Reeves
Presidents since 1945
• 1945-1946 F.A. Mackinnon, The Mackinnon of Mackinnon
• 1947-1959 Hubert Preston
• 1960-1961 H.S.Altham
• 1961-1962 Lord Birkett
• 1963-1968 A. A. Thomson
• 1969-1973 Lt-Gen Sir Oliver Leese
• 1974-1975 A.M.Crawley
• 1976-1983 E. W. Swanton
• 1983-1998 G.H.G.Doggart
• 1998-2008 C.D.A.Martin-Jenkins
• 2008-onwards J.R.T.Barclay
Chairmen since 1945
• 1945-1946 A.Weigall
• 1946-1947 Capt. J.A.Bayliss
• 1947-1953 G.A.Copinger
• 1953-1960 A.R.Whitaker
• 1960-1965 Dr.R.W.Cockshut
• 1965-1966 L.E.S.Gutteridge
• 1966-1983 C.C.W.Box-Grainger
• 1983-1992 R.N.Haygarth
• 1992-2003 D.Allsop
• 2003-2008 W.R.Allen
• 2008 I.R.Jackson
• 2008-2012 D.E.Barnard
• 2012 onwards Nigel Hancock
Notes
- ↑ "The Cricket Society - Awards". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ↑ Hancock, Nigel. "The Cricket Society - Book Of The Year Award 2013". The Cricket Society. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ↑ Barclay's World of Cricket - 2nd Edition, 1980, Collins Publishers, ISBN 0-00-216349-7, p588
- ↑ "People - Chris Lowe - Vice President". The Cricket Society / Cricket Archive. Retrieved 6 July 2015.