County Cricket Matters Issue 23

Martin Chandler | 8:34am BST 15 June 2025

Published: 2025
Pages: 38
Author: Chave, Annie (Editor)
Publisher: County Cricket Matters
Rating: 5 stars

There is a particularly interesting editorial in the twenty third issue of County Cricket Matters. The magazine is still a shining light at the forefront of the concerted efforts being made by all who love the County Championship to preserve it, but perhaps the nature of the battle has changed?

The troops have been mobilised now, and Annie Chave’s seemingly unending enthusiasm for the task and the progress she has made mean that neither she, nor CCM, need to shout anymore. When Annie speaks people listen. After a few years of fear I now have a feeling that the Championship is going to live on and may even, dare I suggest it, thrive? Others are to be thanked too, not least the players, but Annie has done a magnificent job ……… so far!

And of course part of her contribution has been to produce this fine publication, and many who care just as much as her have submitted some fine writing over the last five years. I am pleased to report that there is absolutely no sign of that trend going into reverse. So what has Annie put together for us this time?

Her interview, as ever, starts us off but her subject this time will come as a surprise. She is a New Zealander, now aged 30 and on the Lord’s ground staff. Meg Lay has played in just one List A fixture, back home in New Zealand more than a decade ago so it is not her playing credentials that are of particular interest, but her role and responsibilities towards the preparation of pitches at the home of the game.

There is plenty for the book lover in CCM23 with two writers introducing their recent offerings, another providing a glimpse at his forthcoming title, and the ever impressive David Woodhouse looking back at a classic from the past.

The two current authors are Huw Turbervill and Arunabha Sengupta. Arun’s book is a long look at the history of the cricketing relationships between India and West Indies that was released earlier this year, Cricket Across Dark Waters. That one I have read but I still have the pleasure of Huw’s new book to come, The Final Test, the thoughts on the future of the game from a man who most certainly has a soul.

The forthcoming title is Mick Pope’s biography of Fred Bakewell, due to appear in the ACS Lives in Cricket series later in the year. Having spend a bit of time researching the life of the Northamptonshire and, briefly, England batsman of the 1930s myself I can certainly confirm that his was a fascinating life, and the glimpse of it that appears in CCM23 is a tantalising one.

The book that David Woodhouse has chosen as the subject of his essay is Geoffrey Moorehouse’s  The Best Loved Game, a book that was the Cricket Society Book of the Year in 1979. Moorehouse, then 27, spent the summer of 1978, a time when the cricketing establishment was still reeling from the blows inflicted by Kerry Packer, watching cricket at all levels and the book is his account of that far off summer and David’s critique will certainly stimulate that tiny corner of the second hand cricket book market.

Still on a bibliographical theme John Taylor contributes My First Wisden, although as he clearly bought it second hand he doesn’t give anything away about his age. The year was 1950, so a year before my own personal favourite edition of the Almanack. But John does a lot more than just describe the contents of the book, and the pleasure he has taken from his investment is plain for all to see.

But there is much more in CCM23 than just indulging book lovers. David Mitchell writes about cricket in Bradford, and David Dolman marks the 200th anniversary of Lansdown Cricket Club in Bath a club that, as it passed fifty years of age in 1876, hosted the first fixture of the newly formed Somerset county club.

More contemporary subjects that are dealt with are the Women’s Metro Bank One Day Cup, reviewed by Martin Davies, and Jeremy Lonsdale’s interesting piece about an organisation I have to confess to having not known very much about, the Cricket Research Network.

Which leaves just one and, despite the book related gems already noted probably my favourite piece in CCM23 is, Sharmila Meadows’ tribute to Virat Kohli. In the past I have tried to dislike Kohli on the basis of the weight of runs he scored against England, but soon gave up. He has been a maginificent batsman and a compelling and combative character. As Sharmila eloquently explains, he will be greatly missed, and not just by India.

So CCM continues on its way as as an indispensable piece of cricket literature* and, if you don’t already subscribe, at a mere £17 for a year’s subscription (which means four issues posted to your door) it is a veritable bargain.

*I have long struggled with the crossword that appears on the rear cover of each issue so much so that having 0nce again been defeated comprehensively by CCM22’s crossword I copied that and gave it to a friend who, as well as having an interest in cricket, has considerable expertise in such matters. His verdict was tough but rewarding, so if you’re that way inclined it is probably worth subscribing just for that.