''The Cricketer'' is a monthly

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 striki ...

magazine providing writing and photography from

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and club cricket. The magazine was founded in 1921 by

Sir Pelham Warner Sir Pelham Francis Warner, (2 October 1873 – 30 January 1963), affectionately and better known as Plum Warner or "the Grand Old Man" of English cricket, was a Test cricketer and cricket administrator. He was knighted for services to sport in ...

, an ex-

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

turned cricket writer. Warner edited the magazine until 1963. Later editors included E. W. Swanton,

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for ''Test Match Special'' (TMS) on ...

and

Simon Hughes Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader ...

. Apart from its coverage of the contemporary game, ''The Cricketer'' has also contributed to the sport's history. For example, its researchers uncovered a letter in ''The Weekly Journal'' dated 21 July 1722, which is our source for an early fixture in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

between

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

on 18 July 1722. The magazine is responsible for the National Village Cup, an annual competition between village cricket sides, with the final played at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

. It also runs the Cricketer Cup competition for old boys' teams from the public schools, which began with 16 teams in 1967 and has since expanded. After surviving for over 80 years as an independent publication, the magazine was purchased by

Wisden ''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 ...

, which merged it in 2003 with ''

Wisden Cricket Monthly ''Wisden Cricket Monthly'' (WCM) is a UK-based print and digital cricket magazine available to buy worldwide. The original version ran from June 1979 to September 2003. The magazine was revived in November 2017, launching with an Ashes Special whi ...

''. A new magazine called ''

The Wisden Cricketer ''The Wisden Cricketer'' was the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine. It was created in 2003 by a merger between ''The Cricketer'' magazine and ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''. It is now no longer connected to Wisden and is called ''The Cri ...

'' enjoyed some success under the editorship of John Stern over the next eight years. In December 2010, a private equity company called Test Match Extra Ltd – which owned and ran a cricket website of the same name – bought the magazine from the then owners

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

. In May 2011, the magazine dropped 'Wisden' from the masthead and became ''The Cricketer'' (in association with Wisden). Stern left as editor later that month. Andrew Miller joined as editor in January 2012, with former

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

cricketer

Andy Afford John Andrew Afford (born 12 May 1964) is a former English first-class cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a left-arm slow bowler who played for Nottinghamshire. He is now a businessman. Afford made his first-class debut for Nottingha ...

appointed as publishing director. Afford soon took on the role of managing director and when Miller, departed

, a former

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

and

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

bowler, became the title's editor-at-large from 1 September 2014. Supporting the appointment of Hughes,

Alec Swann Alec James Swann (born 26 October 1976) is a former English cricketer who played for Northamptonshire and Lancashire in county cricket. A right handed batsman, he scored 3,305 first-class runs including eight centuries. He is the older brother ...

joined as Head of Editorial Planning and Production after four-and-a-half years with the ''

Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph The ''Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph'' is the local newspaper for north and east Northamptonshire and is the sister paper of Northampton's ''Chronicle & Echo''. It is based at Newspaper House in Rothwell Road, Kettering, and has since 1996 b ...

''. However, when Hughes became the magazine's full editor with effect from the April 2016 edition, Swann was no longer involved with the publication. As of 2021, Huw Turbervill is the editor of the magazine. ''The Cricketer'' is the world best-selling cricket title, with an ABC-audited circulation of 22,000. It is available in digital format for mobile and tablet devices via

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

publishing platforms. The Cricketer Publishing Limited owns ''The Cricketer'', along with other assets that include CricketArchive, The National Village Cup, Thecricketer.com and TestMatchSofa.com.

References

External links

*
History of ''The Cricketer''
by Tim Brocklehurst,

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cricketer, The Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Sports magazines published in the United Kingdom Cricket magazines Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1921 Cricket collectibles