''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about

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 st ...

that is published in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current players. It is produced in a "pocket-sized" format, being approximately 5×4 in (i.e., about 13×10 cm), so that it is a convenient size for carrying to cricket matches. The front cover of each edition has featured a photograph of a prominent current cricketer. There is a popular myth that this "honour" has a "hex" or "curse" associated with it, as the player featured then invariably has a poor season.

Publications

The original publisher was Playfair Books Ltd of London, which had its office at Curzon Street when the first edition was published in April 1948; the company relocated soon afterwards to Haymarket. The name Playfair was chosen because it reads as "play fair", as confirmed by C B Fry who began his foreword to the first edition in 1948: "This Playfair Annual (and what a proper title for a book about the Noble Game) will commend itself to innumerable readers". The first editor was

Peter West Peter Anthony West (12 August 1920 – 2 September 2003) was a BBC presenter and sports commentator best known for his work on the corporation's cricket, tennis and rugby coverage as well as occasionally commentating on hockey. Throughout his te ...

who was succeeded in 1954 by Gordon Ross. Roy Webber was the statistician at Playfair for many years and was described by West as "that ace of statisticians". The ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is one of a series of similar pocket sized sporting annuals published under the Playfair name. Others have included '' Playfair Football Annual'', ''Playfair Rugby League Annual'' and ''Playfair Racing Annual''. In addition the Playfair name was used for record books produced by Roy Webber and for the magazine

Playfair Cricket Monthly ''Playfair Cricket Monthly'' was a monthly British cricket magazine that ran from April 1960 to April 1973, when it was absorbed by '' The Cricketer''. Its comprehensive statistical content was taken on by ''The Cricketer Quarterly''. It was edite ...

. A number of tour brochures were also produced by Playfair Books. Between 1948 and 1962 the annual was a larger size, 4¾×7¼ in (12×18 cm) and had a different style, being printed on glossy paper and including numerous photographs. In 1962 the Playfair titles were acquired by Dickens Press which had just published ''

The Cricket Annual ''The Cricket Annual'' was a compact cricket annual publication published in 1961 and 1962. This was the final name of a cricket annual that had first appeared in 1895, and was before it was re-named to become the re-styled Playfair Cricket Annua ...

'', edited by Roy Webber. In 1963, Dickens published a new style ''Playfair Cricket Annual'', keeping the same name but basing the size, format and price on ''

''. Therefore, the 2013 edition is the 66th in total, but the annual has been published in its current compact size only since the 1963 edition (the 16th). In addition, ''Playfair Cricket World Cup Guide'', in 1996, and ''Playfair Cricket World Cup 1999'' were published in the same format as the regular annual to cover the International limited overs competitions in India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka and England/Scotland/Ireland/Netherlands in those years respectively. Both of those were also edited by Bill Frindall. The current publisher is Headline Publishing Group with Ian Marshall, who succeeded Bill Frindall on an acting basis in 2009 and permanently for the 2010 edition, as editor. There are several specialist contributors, notably

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, ...

who compiles the career records. The following tables provide a summary of each annual by reference to editor, size and price:

Larger format: 1948–1962

In each of the first 15 editions there was a 16-page photographic section in addition to the numbered pages. The 1948 annual was actually called ''Playfair Books Cricket Annual'' but subsequent years were simply called ''Playfair Cricket Annual''. There were two issues of the 1948 annual with a difference in the back cover. One had a Playfair logo, the other a Schweppes advertisement.

Compact format: 1963–present

For the forerunners to the annual in this format see

. *Bill Frindall died soon before the 2009 annual was completed, but received sole credit as editor on the front cover. The acknowledgements page credits Ian Marshall as "acting editor". Frindall's traditional preface was written by Jonathan Agnew. From the 1998 edition onwards a thumbnail picture also appeared on the spine of the annual. This has been a smaller version of the front cover photograph except in 1998 and 2008, when it was the back cover picture, and in 2006 and 2010 when the Ashes urn was depicted.

Compact format: World Cup Guides

Apart from those on the covers, there are no photographs in any of the annuals from 1963.

Eleven cricketers of the year

From 1950 to 1962 the annual produced a list of its Eleven Cricketers of the Year for the previous season. Tony Lock was selected 7 times,

Peter May Peter May may refer to: * Peter W. May, American businessman * Peter May (cricketer) (1929–1994), English Test cricketer *Peter May (writer) Peter May (born 20 December 1951) is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer ...

6 times. * 1950:

Trevor Bailey Trevor Edward Bailey (3 December 1923 – 10 February 2011) was an England Test cricketer, cricket writer and broadcaster. An all-rounder, Bailey was known for his skilful but unspectacular batting. As the BBC reflected in his obituary: "Hi ...

, Freddie Brown, Tom Burtt, Martin Donnelly, Tom Goddard, Walter Hadlee,

Len Hutton Sir Leonard Hutton (23 June 1916 – 6 September 1990) was an English cricketer. He played as an opening batsman for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1934 to 1955 and for England in 79 Test matches between 1937 and 1955. '' Wisden Cricke ...

, Roly Jenkins,

John Langridge John George Langridge MBE (10 February 1910 – 27 June 1999) was a cricketer who played for Sussex. His obituary in ''Wisden'' called him "one of the best English cricketers of the 20th century never to play a Test match". Born into a cricketi ...

Reg Simpson Reginald Thomas Simpson (27 February 1920 – 22 November 2013) was an English cricketer, who played in 27 Test matches from 1948 to 1955. Life and career Born in Sherwood, Nottingham, England, Simpson attended Nottingham High School. At th ...

, Bert Sutcliffe * 1951: Godfrey Evans,

Laurie Fishlock Laurence Barnard Fishlock (2 January 1907 – 25 June 1986) was an English cricketer, who played in four Test matches from 1936 to 1947. A specialist batsman, he achieved little in those four matches, but might have had a much more substantial ...

, Ken Grieves,

Gilbert Parkhouse William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse (12 October 1925 – 10 August 2000) was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Tests for England in 1950, 1950–51 and 1959. Parkhouse was a right-handed batsman who spent most of his career as an opener for ...

, Sonny Ramadhin, David Sheppard,

Roy Tattersall Roy Tattersall (17 August 1922 – 9 December 2011) was an English cricketer who played for Lancashire and played sixteen Tests for England as a specialist off spin bowler. He was born at Tonge Moor, Bolton, Lancashire, England. Tattersa ...

, Alf Valentine, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell, Doug Wright * 1952: Bob Appleyard, Alec Bedser, Geoffrey Chubb,

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole cricket career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most o ...

Tom Dollery Tom Dollery (14 October 1914 – 20 January 1987) was an English cricketer, who played for the England cricket team and Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Life and career Horace Edgar Dollery was born in Reading, Berkshire, and educated at Readi ...

, Tom Graveney,

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of Yo ...

, Peter May, Jack Robertson, Eric Rowan, Willie Watson * 1953: Alec Bedser,

Brian Close Dennis Brian Close, (24 February 1931 – 13 September 2015) was an English first-class cricketer. He was picked to play against New Zealand in July 1949, when he was 18 years old. Close went on to play 22 Test matches for England, ...

, Godfrey Evans, Tom Graveney, Len Hutton, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Peter May, David Sheppard, Fred Trueman,

Johnny Wardle Johnny Wardle (8 January 1923 – 23 July 1985) was an English spin bowling cricketer whose Test Match career lasted between 1948 and 1957. His Test bowling average of 20.39 is the lowest in Test cricket by any recognised spin bowler since ...

* 1954: Trevor Bailey, Alec Bedser,

Bruce Dooland Bruce Dooland (1 November 1923 – 8 September 1980) was an Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team during the late 1940s. During the war Dooland was in an Australian Commando unit servin ...

Bill Edrich William John Edrich (26 March 1916 – 24 April 1986) was a first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), Norfolk and England. Edrich's three brothers, Brian, Eric and Geoff, and also his cousin, John, all pla ...

Lindsay Hassett Arthur Lindsay Hassett (28 August 1913 – 16 June 1993) was an Australian cricketer who played for Victoria and the Australian national team. The diminutive Hassett was an elegant middle-order batsman, described by '' Wisden'' as, "... a mas ...

Neil Harvey Robert Neil Harvey (born 8 October 1928) is an Australian former cricketer who was a member of the Australian cricket team between 1948 and 1963, playing in 79 Test matches. He was the vice-captain of the team from 1957 until his retirement. ...

, Len Hutton,

Ray Lindwall Raymond Russell Lindwall (3 October 1921 – 23 June 1996) was a cricketer who represented Australia in 61 Tests from 1946 to 1960. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. He also played top-flight rugby leag ...

, Tony Lock, Peter May, David Sheppard * 1955: Bob Appleyard, Denis Compton, Bruce Dooland, Les Jackson,

Don Kenyon Donald Kenyon (15 May 1924 – 12 November 1996) was an English first-class cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1951 to 1955. He captained Worcestershire between 1959 and 1967. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "A polis ...

, Jim Laker,

Peter Loader Peter James Loader (25 October 1929 – 15 March 2011) was an English cricketer and umpire, who played thirteen Test matches for England. He played for Surrey and Beddington Cricket Club. A whippet-thin fast bowler with a wide range of pace ...

, Tony Lock, Fazal Mahmood, Brian Statham,

Alan Watkins Alan Rhun Watkins (3 April 1933 – 8 May 2010) was for over 50 years a British political columnist in various London-based magazines and newspapers. He also wrote about wine and rugby. Life and career Alan Watkins was born in Tycroes, Carmar ...

* 1956: Colin Cowdrey, Bruce Dooland,

Peter Heine Peter Samuel Heine (28 June 1928 – 4 February 2005) was a South African cricketer who played in fourteen Test matches between 1955 and 1962. On his Test debut, he took five wickets in the first innings against England at Lord's in 1955. Life ...

Doug Insole Douglas John Insole (18 April 1926 – 5 August 2017) Obit ...

, Tony Lock,

Jackie McGlew Derrick John "Jackie" McGlew (11 March 1929 − 8 June 1998) was a cricketer who played for Natal and South Africa. He was educated at Merchiston Preparatory School and Maritzburg College, where he was Head Dayboy Prefect and captain of both ...

Roy Marshall Roy Edwin Marshall (25 April 1930 – 27 October 1992) was a West Indian cricketer who played in four Tests from 1951 to 1952. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1959. Early career The son of a wealthy plantation owner, Marshall was bo ...

, Brian Statham, Hugh Tayfield, John Waite * 1957: Denis Compton, Jim Laker,

Gil Langley Gilbert Roche Andrews Langley (14 September 1919 – 14 May 2001) was an Australian Test cricketer, champion Australian rules footballer and member of parliament, serving as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1977 to 1979 ...

, Tony Lock, Peter May,

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

, Peter Richardson, David Sheppard, Stuart Surridge, George Tribe, Cyril Washbrook * 1958: Colin Cowdrey, Tom Graveney, Peter Loader, Tony Lock, Peter May, John Murray, Jim Parks, Derek Shackleton, MJK Smith,

Collie Smith O'Neil Gordon "Collie" Smith (5 May 1933 – 9 September 1959) was a West Indian cricketer. A hard-hitting batsman and off-spin bowler, Smith was rated highly in West Indies. He idolised Jim Laker, for which reason he was nicknamed "Jim" for ...

, Fred Trueman * 1959:

Dennis Brookes Dennis Brookes (29 October 1915 – 9 March 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Northamptonshire between 1934 and 1959 (and as captain between 1954 and 1957). He also played in one Test match for England against West Indies in 1948. ...

, Godfrey Evans, Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Les Jackson, Tony Lock, Roy Marshall, Peter May, Arthur Milton, Derek Shackleton,

Raman Subba Row Raman Subba Row (born 29 January 1932) is a former cricketer who played for England, Cambridge University, Surrey and Northamptonshire. Life and career Born in Streatham, Surrey, England to an Indian father Panguluri Venkata Subba Rao, of Bap ...

, Willie Watson * 1960:

Abbas Ali Baig Abbas Ali Baig (born 19 March 1939) is an Indian former cricketer who played in 10 Tests between 1959 and 1967. In a career spanning 21 years, he scored 12,367 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 34.16. He coached the Indian cricket ...

, Trevor Bailey, Ken Barrington,

Ronnie Burnet John Ronald Burnet OBE (11 October 1918 – 6 March 1999) was an English first-class cricketer and the last amateur captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Yet despite this, and his modest playing record, he is remembered as a success in t ...

, Colin Cowdrey,

Ray Illingworth Raymond Illingworth CBE (8 June 1932 – 25 December 2021) was an English cricketer, cricket commentator and administrator. , he was one of only nine players to have taken 2,000 wickets and made 20,000 runs in first-class cricket.Arnold, Peter ...

, Jim Parks,

Geoff Pullar Geoffrey Pullar (1 August 1935 – 25 December 2014) was an English cricketer, who played for Lancashire and Gloucestershire and in 28 Tests for England. His affectionate nickname was ' Noddy', not, as often said, because, once he was out, he ...

, MJK Smith, Jim Stewart, Bryan Stott * 1961: Trevor Bailey, Ted Dexter, Norman Horner, Henry Horton,

Tony Lewis Anthony Robert Lewis CBE (born 6 July 1938) is a Welsh former cricketer, who captained England, became a journalist, went on to become the face of BBC Television cricket coverage between 1986 and 1998, and became president of the Marylebone C ...

, Alan Moss, Michael Norman, Eric Russell, Brian Statham, Fred Trueman, Peter Wight * 1962:

Bill Alley William Edward Alley (3 February 1919 – 26 November 2004) was a cricketer who played 400 first-class matches for New South Wales, Somerset and a Commonwealth XI. Whilst in Australia, Alley was also a middleweight boxer, and was undefe ...

, Richie Benaud, Jack Flavell, Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, Bill Lawry,

Ken Mackay Kenneth Donald Mackay (24 October 1925 – 13 June 1982) was an Australian cricketer who played in 37 Test matches between 1956 and 1963. Biography He was universally known as "Slasher", an ironic reference to his often back-to-the-wall battin ...

, Roy Marshall, John Murray, Peter Parfitt, Derek Shackleton, Raman Subba Row

County register, averages, and records

Since the first compact edition of 1963, the core of the publication has been a section providing a county by county list of current cricketers with potted biographies, their county averages in the previous season together with some introductory notes on the county and the major county records. The county clubs are listed in alphabetical order. Until 1962, the biographies occupied less space and were not sorted by county club. Introductory information about each county club has expanded, largely because of the introduction of

limited overs cricket Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twen ...

competitions. A much longer list of officials is now given; originally only the secretary and captain were given. Until 1972 most editions gave potted scores for each club's home matches but lack of space caused this to be removed.

Current contents

Currently, the annual's contents typically include: *Preface, Foreword and Acknowledgements *Test Cricket **Details of England's records against the touring teams **Register of the touring teams **Statistical highlights of the previous year **Scorecards of the previous year **Current career averages **Test match records *County Cricket **County register, averages and records **Umpires register **University registers **Touring team registers **Statistical highlights of the previous season **Competition results and tables **Cricketer of the year awards **First-class averages for the season **First-class career averages **List 'A' career averages **First-class records *Limited over and T20 Internationals **Summary of England matches **Career averages **Records *Other Cricket **Oxbridge matches **Women's cricket *Fixtures

Status of matches

As one of the leading statistical cricket publications, Playfair has to take a view on the status of

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

, first-class and domestic one-day (i.e.

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

) matches. It generally complies with the statistics published 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 ...

and will sometimes ignore official rulings: e.g., the ICC ruling that

South African rebel tours The South African rebel tours were a series of seven cricket tours staged between 1982 and 1990. They were known as the rebel tours because the international cricketing bodies banned South Africa from competitive international cricket throughou ...

between 1981–82 and 1989–90 were not first-class matches. The 2010 edition overturned Frindall's long-held view that the match between Australia and an ICC World XI in 2005/06 should not be regarded as a Test Match and now includes it in its Test record section.''Playfair Cricket Annual'' 2010, p. 3

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.playfaircricket.co.uk Cricket books Cricket collectibles Sports reference works