The Big Hitters
ACS Book of the Week
Today we launch a new series celebrating cricket’s literary heritage. Each week we’ll spotlight a fascinating title from the vast collection catalogued in the Cricket Bibliography project, drawing on insightful (but not necessarily positive!) reviews from the archives of our journal. Whether you’re a dedicated researcher or a curious reader, this series will help you explore cricket’s written legacy—one book at a time. We begin with a rather mixed criticism of Brian Bearshaw’s The Big Hitters, published by Queen Anne Press (1986), and reviewed by our founder Robert Brooke.
This book is manifestly mistitled, since Bearshaw emphasises that the subjects covered are purely the result of personal whims. Some Big Hitters would be a more appropriate title for a volume that omits any reference to J.R. Reid’s world-record 15 sixes in a first-class innings. At least Reid gets a mention—a passing reference to another, less remarkable, instance of hard hitting has to suffice—but poor Jim Stewart, whose seventeen sixes in a match have withstood all challenges for 27 years—years in which the big-hitting batsman has dominated as never before—does not appear in the text at all. A great pity; there was, and still is, a sad story to tell, and this surely was the appropriate place to tell it. Don Smith, Jock Cameron, and Malcolm Nash are others whose occasional hitting exploits were mere details on a much larger canvas, and they are surely more deserving of inclusion than several who do find Bearshaw’s favour.
Divided into two sections of twenty players each, the book’s first part is purported to feature cricketers who were consistently big hitters throughout their careers, while section two presents a further selection of players famed, so we are told, for one spectacular hitting performance. This is a most unsatisfactory arrangement, as various inclusions in both sections seem to have somewhat elusive qualifications. All, however, did hit hard on occasion, and no objections could have been raised had they all been grouped together.
Lest one sound too critical, it must be said that this is an extremely attractive and enjoyable book—most definitely a good read. Most appreciated are the vignettes of the lesser-known players—Albert Henry Hornby and Charles Ollivierre; C.E. de Trafford and Sir Timothy O’Brien. One doubts whether the last-named was, as Bearshaw avers, “the most illustrious Irish cricketer,” while, in a more facetious vein, one would welcome confirmation or otherwise of certain rumors regarding Sir Timothy’s death. Did it occur while he was attempting something surely beyond the capabilities of an eighty-seven-year-old, who had already fathered ten legitimate children?
Bearshaw, a professional journalist, has done his homework and, with one or two exceptions, demonstrates that he was educated in an era when great store was set by grammatical accuracy. But when are we going to get consistently correct spellings of Alfred Lyttelton? Bearshaw is clearly uncertain, as he offers two versions. Perhaps he and other transgressors should adopt an old schoolboy remedy—writing it out a hundred times. That would certainly make it stick.
The Cricket Bibliography project, developed in conjunction with the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, is a dedicated effort to catalog and preserve the vast literature of cricket history. This evolving resource brings together books, articles, and other written works, offering researchers, historians and enthusiasts a comprehensive reference to the game’s documented past. Explore it here!
The project is always seeking volunteers to expand and maintain its database. No prior experience is necessary—just enthusiasm for cricket literature and a willingness to help! If you’re interested in contributing, get involved here!