A cricket book written by a former weekly chief reporter has been shortlisted for a national award.
Former Aldershot News journalist Andrew Renshaw, pictured with his book, is one of six authors shortlisted in the Cricket Book of the Year category at the British Sports Book Awards.
His book, Wisden on the Great War, brings together obituaries of more than 1,800 cricketers who died in the First World War and was written after four years of research into their careers and wartime service.
Andrew’s book is one of six to be shortlisted for the prize, which will be presented on 3 June at a ceremony at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
He told the Get Hampshire website: “I am delighted that my research has been recognised through these awards.
“It’s a salute to the cohorts of cricketers whose lives were cut short in the Great War and who are commemorated in my book.”
Wisden, which is known as the ‘Bible of Cricket’, has provided detailed coverage of cricket matches since 1846 and provided a roll of honour to fallen players during the war.
By the end of the war, Wisden carried more than 1,800 obituaries but there were various mistakes made, including names being entered wrongly.
Andrew’s collected edition has put right the inaccuracies and added many new obituaries.
He is currently president of Eversley Cricket Club and a vice president of Hampshire County Cricket Club.
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Any mention of Wisden prompts memories of my dear, long departed colleague and friend Basil Easterbrook, who was cricket correspondent of Thomson Regional Newspapers when I was London Sports Editor in the 1970s and 1980s.
Basil was one of the finest cricket – and soccer – essayists of his generation, supplying a stream of first-class features for the Kemsley – and later, TRN – group, which included such revered titles as The Scotsman, the Western Mail, The Journal at Newcastle and the Press and Journal at Aberdeen.
He also wrote for many leading evenings, including the Evening Chronicle, Newcastle, the Belfast Telegraph, the Edinburgh Evening News, the Evening Express at Aberdeen, the South Wales Echo in Cardiff and TRN’s trail-blazing Home Counties evenings, including the Evening Post-Echo at Hemel Hempstead, the Reading Evening Post, and the Slough Evening Mail.
Basil’s byline also featured in the two fine Lancashire evenings, the Telegraph of Blackburn and the Star of Burnley, not forgetting the Evening Gazette at Middlesbrough, where the incomparable Alan Berry was sports editor.
For many years, Basil was a Wisden regular, writing lead features for cricket’s bible. Unsurprisingly, he was respected throughout the sport as a gifted writer and mischievous wit.
Though he passed on 20 years ago, I still remember him as a much-admired colleague and wonder how such fine a talent should have been so seriously under-estimated.
Anyway, congratulations Andrew on your achievement – and I hope you land the big award.
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