Back to cricket's roots

The Weald of England - an area south of the Downs that runs from Hampshire through to Kent - is regarded as the cradle of cricket. It was there in the late 17th and 18th centuries that cricket took hold and developed, and by the end of the 18th century, the game was rapidly taking becoming established elsewhere.

The reasons that the game grew there more than elsewhere are varied, but one of the most important was that there were wide open spaces and the ground was ideal - the lush grass on chalk was widely grazed by sheep and so permanently cropped. Gradually some of the open land started to be fenced in and basic pavilions sprang up. The legacy of this is that the Weald is home to some of the oldest and most picturesque grounds in the world.

In this book Robin Whitcomb has set out to capture the beauty of the area, and 90 grounds are featured in a journey which wends its way from east to west. The subjects vary from the grand - such as Goodwood and Parham - to the tiny.

As almost all the venues evolved as opposed to being built, they are also littered with idiosyncracies. At Balcombe in Sussex, the ground is on the brow of a hill, so that a fielder on one boundary cannot see his colleagues on the opposite boundary; at Tilford in Surrey, a 17-foot slope is compounded by three of the sides being bordered by roads - I know from my own painful experience that a chase to the boundary can end with the unsuspecting fielder jumping for his life out of the path of a car!

The environs have similarities. Many grounds are inexorably linked with adjoining pubs; quite a few have ponds within a decent hit; wooden pavilions are to the fore, and although a few more modern structures have inevitably crept in, they are almost all in keeping with the surroundings.

This publication is a reminder of the game's roots. As a coffee table book it is an entertaining read, but it is not just pictures. The well-researched introduction puts the role the area has played to the game's history into context, and any sides planning a tour of southern England, whether from within the UK or further afield, would do well to buy this when considering an itinerary. A few games on some of the grounds Whitcomb covers would make for an enjoyable and nostalgic trip.