Writers in Whites
Martin Chandler |Published: 2026
Pages: 296
Author: Randall, Ollie
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 4 stars
I must admit to having not, initially, found the idea of this one particularly appealing. Recreational cricket is a wonderful thing but, generally, my view has always been that it is something to be played, umpired or watched rather than read about. Having now read Writers in Whites however I have to admit however that my instincts on this occasion were well wide of the mark. This is a fascinating look at one particular area of minor cricket albeit, and this of course is why it is such an excellent subject, one that features some major characters.
It is also one for the bibliophiles amongst us, or at least any like me who have wondered about that little book about The Allahakbarries, and the series of booklets about the Old Broughtonians, and the substantial prices they command when they occasionally appear on the market.
The title of the book is of course a major clue, Writers in Whites. The book starts in Edwardian times with the Allahakbarries, the side that was started by the Scottish writer JM Barrie. When I was a child Barrie, by virtue of Peter Pan, was still a well known name. I suspect he no longer is.
There were some movers and shakers in that side whose names were wholly unfamiliar to me, not least Barrie’s right hand man HB Marriott-Watson, but by all accounts he was well known in his time. Other Allahakbarries whose names were instantly recognisable were Jerome K Jerome, Arthur Conan Doyle, AA Milne and EW Hornung.
Barrie’s side was active between 1897 and 1905 and came together again for a single fixture in 1913. After the Great War it was no more, although the baton passed to another generation. JC Squire founded the Invalids, so named out of respect for the maimed and wounded of the conflict just gone. Men like Alec Waugh, his younger and more famous brother Evelyn featured, and there was also the Old Broughtonians side, run by Clifford Bax as well as the more prosaically named Authors XI.
After the Second World war literary cricket changed again. There was still a team styled as an Authors XI and what became the big annual event was their match against a side raised by the National Book League, an industry body bringing together all aspects of the publishing industry.
By now the nature of literary cricket had changed. The previous sides had, in playing terms, been relatively weak, but the Authors against National Book League games became important ones for all concerned and the standard of cricket was much elevated. Former international players such as Douglas Jardine, Percy Fender and Jack Fingleton, who had all at times turned to writing, were frequent participants, and Neville Cardus and John Arlott were keen to be involved as well. This incarnation of literary cricket lasted until 1968 at which point it seemed it may have gone forever*, and that is where Randall’s story closes.
The strength of Writers in White is the depth of the research that has gone into it. The challenge is, for once, not a lack of material. As you would expect from a team of professional writers reports, recollections and memories abound, but it is finding them that presents a challenge demonstrated by the huge number of sources used, most of them from well outside the mainstream of cricket literature.
It is therefore fortunate that literary cricket is something that Ollie Randall studied on a full time basis for four years as he completed a PhD on the subject. He had the stories of many complex characters to unravel along the way and he has described their lives in impressive detail. The game of cricket is always the central theme, but is in many ways incidental to where the real interest lies, which is in the personalities and motivations of all involved and, as importantly, the ups and downs of the relationships between them.
*At the close of the book here is a short Epilogue, just three short paragraphs, which references the rebirth of an Authors XI in 2012. That is all you get from Randall, although a book was published in 2013 concentrating on the previous season for the side, which has a website and, with a full fixture list for 2026, seems to be flourishing with a number of instantly recognisable names amongst the playing members. Given that one of those players is currently the MD of Fairfield Books the expectation must be that there will be a follow up to Writers in Whites at some point in the future
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