Cricket happenings covered in depth

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 12

Cricket happenings covered in depth

The 1983 Shell Cricket Almanack of New Zealand (Moa Publications; 227 pp, $11.95) is a first-class publication. Arthur Carman, editor of the almanac for 35 years, died in 1982. The new editors, Francis Payne, of Auckland, and lan Smith, of Wellington, have continued Carman’s great work for cricket, and extended it. It is a complete record of last season’s cricket, and of New Zealand cricket over the years. The new features include complete records of

all those still in the firstclass game, Shell Cup statistics and profiles of umpires. An innovation is in the score sheets: in every match, at home and on the tour of England this year, batsmen’s times, balls received and boundaries are shown.

Minor matches . and women’s cricket are covered, and particular attention has been given to

detail in the very full obituaries. There are 13 of them, and Ted Bbdcock’s notice runs to three pages. A welcome addition is “Happenings,” a melange of unusual facts; of especial interest is the section setting out the contribution of the Snedden family to New Zealand cricket. The “players of the year” are Lance Cairns and Richard Hadlee; the “promising players” Scott Briasco, Martin Crowe and Trevor Franklin.

If there is one omission from the new almanac, it is the absence of Shell Trophy records. That seems odd, in view of the Shell Cup statistics. But if that is a blemish, it is a very minor one. The 1983 edition is an admirable record, it contains some

highly interesting reading, and its authors are to be heartily congratulated on it. - R.T.B.