The Shorter Wisden 2013 (36 page)

Jade Child from Launceston, Tasmania, set a world record for the longest net session, batting for 25 hours and facing 15,701 deliveries from a bowling machine and local bowlers.
The previous record stood at 12,353 balls.

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard made Sachin Tendulkar an honorary member of the Order of Australia on a visit to India, but the award came under fire for not meeting the
rule that such awards for non-Australians should reflect “extraordinary service to Australia or humanity at large”. Independent MP Rob Oakeshott said: “I love Sachin, I love
cricket, but I just have a problem with soft diplomacy. It’s about the integrity of the honours list.”

The United States’ two most famous universities, Harvard and Yale, met for their first-ever cricket match, under floodlights in front of a crowd of 15. Although Harvard
had a team in the 19th century, Yale did not, and Harvard cricket had been moribund for more than 80 years. Harvard won by 177 runs.

Nine-year-old Aman Tiwari may have been saved from losing an arm because he was hurt when playing cricket. Though hit by only a tennis ball, he was in extreme pain, and doctors
were able to diagnose bone cancer far earlier than would have otherwise happened.

Charles Fenton, 92, and believed to be the oldest umpire in the country, may be able to continue in the job in 2013 after all. He was originally forced to announce his
retirement after 61 years officiating in the Derbyshire and Cheshire League because without an extra premium insurers refused to provide cover for anyone over 85. However, publicity-minded
bookmakers Paddy Power offered to pay the extra. “What kind of skipper declares with his batsman on 92?” said a spokesman.

Bone-density tests initiated by India’s cricket board, which are supposed to be able to measure young people’s age accurately, have shown that many Under-16 players
are over-age. Of 32 probables for Mumbai’s Under-16 team, 11 were said to be ineligible; similar numbers were reported elsewhere.

Sydney High were bowled out for nought by King’s School in a Fourth XI match, with King’s bowler Brad Thomas taking six wickets, his victims forming two separate
hat-tricks. King’s hit the winning run off a dropped sitter first ball. The sides then split into two scratch teams and played a far more satisfying Twenty20 fixture.

The pavilion at Malpas CC, on the outskirts of Newport, South Wales, achieved an unbeatable niche in political history when it was used as a polling station in Britain’s
first elections for police commissioners, and no voters at all turned up. Council officials waited in vain for 14 hours for any of the 8,278 electors in Bettws Ward to exercise their democratic
rights. Turnout nationally was about 15%, a record low.

Andrew Flintoff had an operation to repair a torn shoulder ligament after his first fight as a professional boxer. It was unclear whether the injury was sustained during his
points victory over the American, Richard Dawson. Flintoff took a standing count in the second round, but held firm to win a narrow decision. The bout, much-hyped and much-criticised, looked, said
The Guardian
, “more like two burly farmhands trying to fend off a swarm of invisible bees than a boxing match”.

A 15-year-old was allegedly beaten to death by two of his friends after dropping a catch in a game at Lakhimpur, near Lucknow, police said.

Civil servants in the Department of Communities and Local Government accessed leading websites 54 million times in the previous month, according to a survey by officials. This
included 383,000 hits for ESPNcricinfo.

Australia’s Transport Accident Commission defended their choice of Shane Warne to front a road-safety campaign less than a year after he was involved in a road-rage
dispute with a cyclist.

Brooksbottom won their 50th anniversary Boxing Day match against Tottington St John’s by nine wickets. Alan Fletcher, who started the fixture in 1963, bowled the
ceremonial first ball. “We were really lucky with the weather,” said Tottington official Kieran Coe. “It stayed dry and mild until we had finished playing, then it poured
down.”

Thirteen-year-old Bhupen Lalwani of Don Bosco School, Matunga, became the latest addition to the list of players who have made extreme scores in Mumbai’s annual Giles
Shield. Lalwani scored 398 out of 715 for five against IES Modern English School (Dadar), who lost by an innings and 590. He said “it hurt” to miss a quadruple-century.

We welcome contributions from readers, especially items from local or non-UK media. Items from club or school websites are also accepted. Please send newspaper cuttings to
Matthew Engel at Fair Oak, Bacton, Herefordshire HR2 0AT (always including the paper’s name and date) and weblinks to
[email protected]

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

from Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 1914

NOTES BY THE EDITOR [Sydney Pardon] On the whole one may look back on the season of 1913 with keen satisfaction. Before the season began there was certainly reason to feel
apprehensive... at a private meeting eleven of the leading counties had agreed among themselves to support a proposal by Lancashire to reduce the scope of the Championship by excluding from the
competition four or five of the weaker clubs. On the face of it this seemed an unsportsmanlike proceeding, and naturally there was an outcry.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR [Sydney Pardon] As I have said more than once in
Wisden
, it was not until Association Football became such a power in the land that people began to
think county cricket could live on gate money. The various committees are now recognising that it is to a larger membership they must look for security. One point, generally overlooked by those who
cry out about bad times, is that the expense of running a county club has in these days increased to an extent out of all proportion to the amount of money paid by the public for admission to the
matches. For the time it lasts cricket is the cheapest amusement I know of, and there is no safe way of making the general public pay more than they do.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR [Sydney Pardon] With regard to England’s position in the cricket world at the present time things could not be better... there is no denying the fact
that we are just now very strong. In Hobbs we have, I think, the best bat in the world, Bardsley being at the moment his nearest rival, and in Barnes, beyond all question, the best bowler. That our
strength is so largely professional is matter for regret, but this is a state of things that may soon change.

PUBLIC SCHOOL CRICKET IN 1913 Of general interest to school cricket... is the influence of swerve in modern bowling, and the danger of its overcultivation at the expense of
spin and length among Public School bowlers. More than once this year I have heard the lament by a cricket master, “Oh! So-and-so was a most promising bowler with a good action and command of
length and spin, but he learned to swing, and since then he has lost his length and direction, and has done nothing except get an odd wicket in the first over or two, or after the 200.

THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM IN AMERICA From the end of May [1913] to the end of September an Australian team toured in America. The trip was quite unofficial in character and had no
connection whatever with the Australian Board of Control, the side being got up and managed by Mr Benjamin. A huge programme of over 50 matches was completed, the Australians winning nearly all of
them and only losing one... Bardsley, Macartney, and J. N. Crawford were in the Australian team, Macartney making seven scores of over a hundred, and Bardsley six.

KENT v WARWICKSHIRE, AT TONBRIDGE, JUNE 19, 20, 21 [1913] The resumption of fixtures between Kent and Warwickshire after a lapse of 14 years yielded the most remarkable
day’s play during the whole of the season... Warwickshire were left with a lead which looked certain to decide the match in their favour. Blythe and Woolley, however, making the most of the
conditions, actually dismissed Warwickshire in 45 minutes for 16, the two famous left-handers being quite unplayable, but after this startling achievement, it was impossible to believe Kent would
be capable of hitting off 147 runs. Before lunch Humphreys and Seymour were disposed of for 16, 18 wickets so far having fallen in the day for 60 runs. Afterwards, however, Woolley hit away with
such dazzling brilliancy that, under conditions which still placed batsmen at a marked disadvantage, he scored 76 in 80 minutes, Kent gaining a truly memorable victory by six wickets.

LANCASHIRE v YORKSHIRE, AT LIVERPOOL, JULY 10, 11, 12 [1913] The occasion of the King’s visit to Liverpool was seized upon to arrange an additional match between
Lancashire and Yorkshire. A very interesting contest ended in favour of Lancashire by three wickets, but, of course, the game did not count in the County Championship. The outstanding feature of
the match was the bowling of Dean who, taking 17 wickets, accomplished a feat which has only been performed on seven other occasions in modern cricket.

STAFFORDSHIRE IN 1913 As usual Barnes was the outstanding player of the Staffordshire eleven, his doings against some of the second-class county teams being of such a wonderful
nature that Staffordshire generally had an easy task when he was in form. He took 65 wickets for just over six runs apiece, and finished up second in the batting figures with an average of over 40
runs an innings.

Compiled by Christopher Lane

FIFTY YEARS AGO

from Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 1964

CRICKET BOOKS by John Arlott 1963 has been marked by the publication of a cricket book so outstanding as to compel any reviewer to check his adjectives several times before he
describes it and, since he is likely to be dealing in superlatives, to measure them carefully to avoid over-praise – which this book does not need. It is
Beyond A Boundary
, by C. L.
R. James (Hutchinson: 25s.) and, in the opinion of this reviewer, it is the finest book written about the game of cricket.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR [Norman Preston]
Wisden
itself made an indelible contribution to the summer by the appearance on April 19 [1963] of the 100th edition. The
newspapers, television and sound radio were lavish in their praise and they treated it as a national event. I don’t think I am giving away any secrets when I say that even the publisher was
surprised by the public demand for the Almanack. It ran into three impressions by the printers before everyone was satisfied. Naturally,
Wisden
, which specialises in cricket facts and
records, established its own record of sales. The firm of John Wisden and Co. Ltd. commemorated the event by launching The Wisden Trophy, with the approval of MCC and the West Indies Cricket Board
of Control, to be played for perpetually between England and West Indies in the same way as England and Australia contest the Ashes. West Indies have become the first holders of the trophy, which
is being kept permanently in the Imperial Cricket Museum at Lord’s.

NOTES BY THE EDITOR [Norman Preston] Bowlers in England last summer had their first experience of operating with the front foot as the marker for a legitimate delivery. The
experiment was confined to county and university cricket and not to the Tests as West Indies did not wish to conform until they had had more practice at it in their own islands. Although some
bowlers expressed themselves forcibly as being against it most of them soon became accustomed to the new condition and at the end of the season MCC considered the experiment designed to prevent
unfair drag quite successful.