The ACS wins the Howard Milton Award
The Cricket Society and British Society of Sports History honour the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians
The ACS’s latest publication, a lively history of cricket in Suffolk by Simon Sweetman, is now available for purchase on our website. Buy it here.
The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians has been announced as winner of the 2024 Howard Milton Award for Cricket Scholarship.
Cricket Society Chair Peter Hardy said, “The ACS is a marvellous organisation dedicated to the enjoyment, interpretation and research of cricket statistics and history. It is populated by some of the most impressive individuals that I have come across in over fifty years’ involvement in cricket, and their commitment to excellence is inspiring. The way the ACS is run and what it stands for is an example to all voluntary organisations in the cricket, and indeed the wider sporting, world. They thoroughly deserve to win the 2024 Howard Milton Award for Cricket Scholarship.’
Commenting on the Award, John Bryant, ACS Committee Chair said, “I am delighted that the ACS has been selected as the 2024 winner of the prestigious Howard Milton Award for Cricket Scholarship. It is a great honour, and I know that both the members and the committee of the ACS will be thrilled to have been recognised accordingly. The ACS is formed of many committed statisticians and historians all seeking a level of excellence in their work which we always aim to better.”
Bryant was presented with a special trophy by former chair of the Cricket Society Nigel Hancock yesterday.
The presentation took place during the annual conference of the British Society of Sports History (BSSH), which is being held at the University of Chichester from 22-23 August.
The Howard Milton Award, a collaboration between The Cricket Society and the British Society of Sports History, is awarded annually to a person or persons who have made an outstanding and/or unsung contribution to cricket scholarship. The award seeks to recognise good cricket writing and research whether of an “academic” or “popular” nature. Winners are decided on the recommendations of a panel drawn from officers of both organisations.
It is named after Howard Milton, the eminent cricket historian and statistician and Honorary Librarian at The Cricket Society for over 40 years.
About the ACS
The ACS is represented in over sixteen countries, whose members include many of the world’s leading cricket statisticians and several of its most accomplished historians and biographers.
Formed in March 1973, its principal purpose is “to promote and encourage research into the statistical and historical aspects of cricket throughout the world at all levels and to publish the findings.” Members have significantly contributed to a wider understanding of the game, and have led the way in uncovering many biographical details of men’s first-class cricketers.
The Association publishes a quarterly journal, The Cricket Statistician, has set up a number of collaborative research projects on topics such as women’s cricket, league cricket, and cricketers who died in wartime, and publishes many book series.
About the Cricket Society
The Cricket Society was established in 1945. It encourages a love of cricket through playing, watching, reading and listening. It supports young cricketers, makes annual awards, holds regular meetings, publishes an acclaimed journal twice a year and its Bulletin six times a year, and has its own cricket team.
It is a national organisation with over 1,500 members across the UK and beyond. It also has branches based in Bath, Birmingham and Durham.
About the British Society of Sports History
The British Society of Sports History was set up in 1982 to promote the study of sport, both in Britain and in the rest of the world. Its work includes activities as diverse as the encouragement of research within and beyond academic settings, support for the preservation of the sporting record, collaboration with the museum and heritage sector, promotion of the study of the history of sport in higher and further education as well as by those in secondary school, and engagement with the broader public media.
It has members across the world, both academic and non-academic, and welcomes anyone with an interest in the history of sport.