The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and statistics of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

. Originally called the Association of Cricket Statisticians, the words "and Historians" were added in 1992 but it has continued to use the initialism ACS. The ACS headquarters were formerly in Nottingham, opposite

Trent Bridge Cricket Ground Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nottingham. Trent Bridge is also t ...

, but relocated to Cardiff in 2006. Although constituted in England, the ACS has a worldwide membership and is open to anyone with a relevant interest.

Origin

Following the formal definition of

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

by the then

Imperial Cricket Conference The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are 108 national associations, with 12 Full Members and 96 Associate Members. Founded in 1909 as the '' ...

(ICC) in May 1947, and particularly given ICC's statement that ''the definition does not have retrospective effect'', a number of cricket statisticians became interested in developing an agreed list of matches played before 1947 from which to compile accurate first-class records.

Roy Webber Roy Webber (died 14 November 1962 aged 48) was a British cricket scorer and statistician. After World War II, in which he served with the Royal Air Force, he decided to turn what had been his hobby into his profession. He had the necessary profi ...

published his ''Playfair Book of Cricket Records'' in 1951 and stated his view that first-class cricket records (i.e., for statistical purposes) should not include matches played before 1864. In this first edition, Webber accepted the records used by ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', including those that summarised the career of

W G Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equa ...

. In his second edition (1961), Webber challenged many existing views about match status and produced, ''inter alia'', an alternative career record for Grace that did not include some of the matches ''Wisden'' recognises as first-class. There was some support among cricket statisticians, including

Bill Frindall William Howard Frindall, (3 March 1939 – 29 January 2009) was an English cricket scorer and statistician, who was familiar to cricket followers as a member of the Test Match Special commentary team on BBC radio. He was nicknamed the Bearded ...

, for Webber's basic arguments but there were (and remain) differences of opinion about his commencement date and about the details of his recommended matchlist. The controversial cricket historian

Rowland Bowen Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the In ...

wrote a lengthy critique of Webber's sources in 1961. Bowen then started ''Cricket Quarterly'' (1963–70), devoted to cricket statistics, which included among its contributors some of the original ACS members. The ACS itself was founded by Robert Brooke and Dennis Lambert, two of Bowen's contributors, by means of advertisements in the October 1972 issues of ''The Cricketer'' and ''Playfair Cricket Monthly''. These attracted a nucleus of some 50 members who formed the association in 1973.

Scope of activities

The ACS has sought to compile details of all known historically significant matches, and has widened its scope to include details of other competitions such as the

Minor Counties Cricket Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

and the

Second XI Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

in England. The bulk of its research concerns those matches that are officially or unofficially recognised as first-class or List A limited overs cricket. The findings have been published in-house in various guides (see list below) and in the Association's quarterly journal ''The Cricket Statistician''. ''The Who's Who of first-class Cricketers'' is one of the few commercially published works. Like Webber and Frindall, the ACS has no official position in terms of deciding the status of cricket matches. Any classification it publishes is merely its own opinion, as is the case with all other cricket writers. However, in 2006, the ICC asked the ACS to provide a comprehensive List A limited overs matchlist since the commencement of List A matches in 1963, and this has since been used as a basis for all official records.CricInfo – ICC clarification of List A matches
Retrieved on 2 August 2009.

ACS publications

The ACS publishes its findings in-house, typically in the form of paperback books. Many books are issued in series format. The publications include the following: * ''The Cricket Statistician'' (a quarterly journal for members) * ''A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1707–1863'' (1985) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles'' (1982, 2nd edition) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in Australia'' (1983, 2nd edition) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in India'' (1986) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in New Zealand'' (1981) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in North and South America'' (1987) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in Pakistan'' (1989) * ''A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in South Africa'' (1981) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in Sri Lanka'' (1987) * ''A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the West Indies'' (1984) * ''Complete First-Class Match Lists'', ''1801–1914'' (1996); ''1914/15–1944/45'' (1997); ''1945–1962/63'' (1997); ''1963–1980/81'' (1998); ''1981–1998'' (1999) * ''The ACS International Cricket Yearbook'' (annual first issued in 1986) * ''The ACS Second Eleven Annual'' (annual first issued in 1985) * ''The ACS Famous Cricketers Series'' (complete playing records match by match of a cricketer – the series ended after 100 books in the series) * ''The ACS Lives in Cricket Series'' (biographies of cricketers who had not previously had such a book published) * ''The Minor Counties Championship'' (an ongoing series of the complete scorecards and statistics for each season, starting in 1895) * ''Statistical Survey'' (a detailed statistical survey of each English season – books published covering seasons 1863 to 1881) * ''Bangladesh First-Class Matches'' (scorecards of first-class matches in the country — books published covering seasons 2000/01 to 2006/07) * ''Sri Lanka First-Class Matches'' (scorecards of first-class matches in the country — books published covering seasons 1989/90 to 2007) * ''Zimbabwe First-Class Matches'' (scorecards of first-class matches in the country — books published covering seasons 1993/94 to 2006/07) * ''ACS Overseas First-Class Annual'' (scorecards of first-class matches played outside England first issued for season 2008/09) * ''Cricket Grounds'' (English first-class counties)

References

Bibliography

* ACS, various publications (see list above) * ''The Cricketer'', monthly magazine, 1961 *

, ''The Kaye Book of Cricket Records'', Kaye & Ward, 1968 *

, ''Playfair Book of Cricket Records'', Playfair, 1951 and 1961 editions

External links

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians website
*

Richard Streeton Richard Marsh Streeton (4 November 1930 – 30 June 2006) was an English sports journalist, concentrating on cricket. Streeton's father was a manager for HMV and the BBC. Streeton was educated at King's School, Canterbury, before leading a ...