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Wisden- How important to Cricket is it?

How important has it been?


  • Total voters
    23

andmark

International Captain
For 100+ years, the whole history of the game of Cricket has been recorded in little yellow books called Wisden Almanacks. These books are a gate way to knowledge and passion in the game of Cricket. (Now with the serious part) Whilst the ICC/MCC have organised most tours, settled matters and created huge tournaments, the authorities have often failed with their duties (e.g the underarm/ incident could have been avoided with a simple change to the laws).

Now I want to ask, do you think think Wisden Almanacks have been a huge role to the game and the backbone of Cricket, or do you think it has an extremely small role?
 

pasag

RTDAS
It's more or less irrelevant now with cricinfo taking its place. CI's place in cricket today shouldn't be understated, it's huge.
 

andmark

International Captain
Ah, but I thnk Cricinfo got a lot of it's records via Wisden (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Wisden is a unique resource having always been wholly independent of the game's governing bodies, and the views expressed by its editors down the years carry great weight - the Editorial in the 1934 edition dealing with Bodyline was and is a masterpiece of accurate reporting and sound judgment.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Interesting thread.

All I know is everyone bitched when ESPN took over Cricinfo from Wisden, but it was the best thing that could happen. The site is amazing now. Incredible.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
So what? Some people like Page 2, and if you don't you don't have to read it. I've read that section maybe 3 times in total. But I can see its appeal, and it obviously gets plenty of hits.

Cricinfo.com is now extremely versatile. It appeals to everyone. People looking to read expert opinion, people looking for live scores, people looking for stats, people looking for a laugh and funny blogs. Its all in one spot.

Makes cricket, for once, actually compete with other sports in something.
 

four_or_six

Cricketer Of The Year
So what? Some people like Page 2, and if you don't you don't have to read it. I've read that section maybe 3 times in total. But I can see its appeal, and it obviously gets plenty of hits.

Cricinfo.com is now extremely versatile. It appeals to everyone. People looking to read expert opinion, people looking for live scores, people looking for stats, people looking for a laugh and funny blogs. Its all in one spot.

Makes cricket, for once, actually compete with other sports in something.
Meh, was only messing. Chill. :)

Cricinfo is the best sporting website I've come across, definitely. Love the stats and the reporting is pretty good, though I think sometimes they actually report too much and there are too many articles on the eve of a match.

It would be nice if you could customise it a bit, but moon on a stick and all that.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Haha I do agree that there are almost too many articles, if there was such a thing.

Hard to keep up, but also very useful when bored
 

SaeedAnwar

U19 Debutant
I remember reading Wisden Books about 17-18 years ago when there was no such thing as Internet in Pakistan. Good times, time back then was much simpler, i use to read so many books on different topics back then. Now i dont touch books because most of the stuff is on the net
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Wisden is a unique resource having always been wholly independent of the game's governing bodies, and the views expressed by its editors down the years carry great weight - the Editorial in the 1934 edition dealing with Bodyline was and is a masterpiece of accurate reporting and sound judgment.
Is there linkage, per chance?
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
There is an archive but sadly the particular piece I had in mind isn't online - still the tour report from 1934 and the editors notes from 1933 are in it
 

superkingdave

Hall of Fame Member
Hate how all the live scores aren't shown on the front page any more unless you expand(should be able to regionalise it so it automatically shows your selected domstic scores as well), plus if you are a match page and want to go back to the live scores page you either have to open in a new tab or if you press back it mostly doesn't reload properly.
 

marc71178

Eyes not spreadsheets
I don't know why they've done that with the live scores, especially how some domestic tournaments are shown and some aren't.
 

stumpski

International Captain
Didn't think Fred would have voted for option # 5 somehow.

It's hard to overstate how influential Wisden was in the 25 years or so up to the First World War. Among other things they led a sort of crusade against bowlers with illegal actions. And for many years after that the position of Editor was a very prestigious one in the game - they woud more or less hold court in the press box. EW Swanton was never a Wisden editor but as a man with an opinion on everything cricket-related it would have suited him down to the ground. Would have needed a few more pages for the Notes though.

I still enjoy reading my older copies but it was a class-ridden book for a long time - as shown by the ridiculous amount of space given to Public Schools cricket compared with overseas domestic cricket and tours not involving England. Also some amateur who achieved little in his playing career but who managed to get a 100 in the University game or lead an MCC tour somewhere would probably get a bigger obituary than a professional who played for thirty years. It's a good deal more egalitarian now.
 

andmark

International Captain
Didn't think Fred would have voted for option # 5 somehow.

It's hard to overstate how influential Wisden was in the 25 years or so up to the First World War. Among other things they led a sort of crusade against bowlers with illegal actions. And for many years after that the position of Editor was a very prestigious one in the game - they woud more or less hold court in the press box. EW Swanton was never a Wisden editor but as a man with an opinion on everything cricket-related it would have suited him down to the ground. Would have needed a few more pages for the Notes though.

I still enjoy reading my older copies but it was a class-ridden book for a long time - as shown by the ridiculous amount of space given to Public Schools cricket compared with overseas domestic cricket and tours not involving England. Also some amateur who achieved little in his playing career but who managed to get a 100 in the University game or lead an MCC tour somewhere would probably get a bigger obituary than a professional who played for thirty years. It's a good deal more egalitarian now.
Indeed, but society in Britain as a whole was class-bound and it only became less so in the 1970s. Random class related fact: Middlesex were once forced to play at The Oval because the Eton- Harrow match had to be played at Lords.

In my opinion, Wisden has been more important to the Cricketing media, devoted fans and Cricketing Historians- as opposed to the players. But it is important to state the following: Cricket would never have had a great sense of the history of the game, without Wisden. This point, in my opinion is self-explanatory.
 

fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Indeed - no other sport has an annual chronicle that has run for anything like as long as the 147 editions Wisden reached this year - yet it wasn't by any means the first attempt to establish one
 

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