Traditional career totals

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For a number of cricketers two different sets of first-class career totals are often quoted. The most widely recognised differences relate to the batting totals for W.G. Grace and Jack Hobbs. The two sets of figures are normally referred to 'Traditional' and 'ACS' totals and reflect different definitions of which matches are first-class. The 'Traditional' totals are used in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and in the Playfair Cricket Annual.

The two sets of batting totals for W.G. Grace and Jack Hobbs are:

W.G. Grace

	Career	I	NO	Runs	Avge	HS	100
'Traditional'	1865-1908	1493	105	54896	39.55	344	126
'ACS'	1865-1908	1478	104	54211	39.45	344	124

Jack Hobbs

	Career	I	NO	Runs	Avge	HS	100
'Traditional'	1905-1934	1315	106	61237	50.65	316*	197
'ACS'	1905-1934	1325	107	61760	50.70	316*	199

Contents 1 Background 2 W.G. Grace 2.1 Batting 2.2 Bowling 3 Jack Hobbs 4 Other cricketers 4.1 Batting 4.2 Bowling 5 References

[edit] Background

Prior to 1947 there was no exact definition of what constituted a First-class match and so each statistician had to compile their own list of first-class matches. Statisticians who did this did not generally publish the list of matches that they had used. The effect of this was there were often differences in career totals and sometimes inconsistencies between different statisticians. For instance two statisticians producing totals for two different counties might use different lists for matches between the two counties.

One of the major objectives of the Association of Cricket Statisticians was to produce a list of first-class matches so that in future statisticians could work from a common base. This resulted in a booklet published in 1976 outlining the first-class matches in the British Isles from 1864 to 1946^[1]. This was followed by booklets covering other countries and also a booklet covering 'important cricket matches' in the British Isles before 1864^[2]. From 1996 the ACS produced a further series of booklets giving complete lists of first-class matches from 1801 with additional details like the venue and dates^[3].

Despite doubts in certain quarters^[4][5] that there could be ever be a generally acknowledged list, in general the ACS lists have been widely used and are the world-wide standard. One remaining area of discussion is the starting point for first-class matches. The 1801 date used by the ACS was largely arbitrary. In the initial booklet listing pre-1864 matches in the British Isles two lists were produced. One covered the 18th century and another, more restrictive list, covered the 19th century. Thus 1801 was simply chosen since it marked the start of the 19th century. Since none of the cricketers with large career totals played before 1864 the starting point is not an issue here although it does affect other cricket records, for instance the lowest team score which might include the 1810 match between England and The Bs (with Wells and Lawrell) when The Bs were dismissed for 6 in their second innings were that match to be regarded as first-class.

Following the publication of the ACS lists further publications began to appear which used these lists to produce cricket records. These generated little comment except in two respects; namely the first-class career batting totals for W.G. Grace and Jack Hobbs. This was largely because these were totals that had been known and accepted by a significant number of cricket enthusiasts. In many ways the most significant difference relates to the number of centuries scored. The ACS lists reduce W.G. Grace's total by 2 and increase Jack Hobbs's total by 2 compared to the 'Traditional' totals.

At 1pm on 17 May 1895, Gloucestershire are playing Somerset at Bristol, Sammy Woods bowls a slow full toss, perhaps deliberately, which W.G. Grace dispatches to the boundary. Sammy Woods walks down the pitch and shakes hands with the great man who has completed his hundredth hundred, a century of centuries. Poems are written, commemerative plates are produced. However according to the ACS this was only his 98th century; according to their lists he only reached this target on 30 May against Middlesex at Lord's.

It is the morning of 17 August 1925, Surrey are playing Somerset at Taunton, Jack Hobbs, 92 not out overnight, turns Jimmy Bridges to leg and scores his 126th century to equal W.G. Grace's record. Percy Fender brings out a wine glass which Jack Hobbs drinks from (although being teetotal it is reputed to be only ginger ale). Having been nearly reached his century the previous day the press are there in large numbers, celebrating the achievement. The press depart and on the next day Somerset recover from a 192 first innings deficit to leave Surrey 183 to win. Andy Sandham, Hobbs's opening partner, is in no hurry and Jack Hobbs reaches his 127th century with the winning runs to give Surrey victory by 10 wickets and to beat W.G. Grace's record. Such is the unexpected nature of Somerset's recovery that hardly anyone is in the ground to celebrate. However according the ACS he had equalled and passed W.G. Grace's record of 124 centuries earlier in the 1925 season.

The reasons for the differences between the 'Traditional' and 'ACS' totals are complex and are detailed below. However in simple terms the 'Traditional' view is that the ACS is rewriting history while the ACS view is that it is correcting long standing mistakes.

[edit] W.G. Grace

[edit] Batting

To convert from the 'ACS' to 'Traditional'^[6]:

include:

• 1868 Gloucestershire v M.C.C. 24, 13
• 1872 M.C.C. v Hertfordshire 0, 75
• 1872 South v North 1
• 1873 M.C.C. v Hertfordshire 47,26
• 1873 M.C.C. v Staffordshire 67
• 1873 Gentlemen to Canada Touring Team v XV of M.C.C. 152, 5
• 1873 South v North 37*
• 1879 Gloucestershire v Somerset 113
• 1881 Gloucestershire v Somerset 80
• 1881 Gloucestershire v Somerset 15, 30

The 'Traditional' total for W.G. Grace is that given in his obituary in the 1916 Wisden and produced by F. S. Ashley-Cooper. The only comment there on which matches were regarded as first-class is given on page 96: "The above figures, which have been checked most carefully throughout, will be found to differ in several instances from those given in the cricket publications of the sixties and seventies; but, considering that the handbooks of that period frequently contradicted each other, and that the averages given in one seldom, if ever, agreed with those tabulated in another, that is not surprising. One instance of the loose manner in which statistics were compiled in those days may be cited. In 1873, when "W.G.'s" scores in the M.C.C. matches v Hertfordshire and Staffordshire, and in the South v North game at The Oval on July 26, were included in his first-class aggregate for the season, his bowling in the same matches was ignored completely. The match on 26 July refers to a one day fill-up match played because the three-day South v North match of 24 and 25 July had finished a day early. Such matches have never been regarded as first-class.

Ashley-Cooper had produced details of W.G. Grace's batting averages upto the end of the 1896 season and these were published in a series of articles in Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game in late 1896 and early 1897. In the first article he says "I have included M.C.C. v Herts and M.C.C. v Staffordshire, which, although not really first class, have always been reckoned in W.G.'s averages for 1873." It is interesting to note that between this 1896 article and the 1916 obituary Ashley-Cooper omits 3 matches played by Grace for South Wales in 1865 and includes the Gentlemen of England v Oxford University match played in 1866 which he had previous missed. This demonstrates that even after 1896 the career figures were sufficiently uncertain that he revised the list of first-class matches. It would have been difficult for Ashley-Cooper to include and exclude matches in which Grace scored a century but clearly the career run total was sufficiently uncertain that matches in which he did not score a century could be added or removed without much comment. One aspect that the ACS finds unaccectable is the suggestion by Ashley-Cooper that the performances of W.G. Grace in a certain match should be regarded as first-class but that performances by other players should not.

Wisden for 1896 includes career figures for Grace up to the end of the 1895 season. This give the same centuries as appear in the 1916 edition but the season totals differ in many respects.

The 1873 first-class aggregate referred to are those given in the 1874 edition of Green Lillywhite which does include the matches noted in the batting totals but not in the bowling figures. For the 1916 obituary Ashley-Cooper adds the bowling figures to Grace's total rather than removing them from his batting figures. The inclusion of these wickets takes Grace's season bowling total over 100 wickets and Ashley-Cooper realised that he now becomes the first person to perform the double. In all Wisdens before 1916 the records section has the first double as being performed by Grace in 1874. Having included these three matches for 1873 Ashley-Cooper then includes 2 similar matches in the 1872 season (M.C.C. v Hertfordshire and a South v North fill-up match on 27 July). This is difficult to justify since these matches were not included in Grace's first-class totals that appear in the 1873 edition of Green Lillywhite.

A further match in 1873 is not regarded as first-class by the ACS. This is the match between an amateur team made up of those who had toured Canada and the U.S.A. in August and September 1872 and XV of the M.C.C. Generally "odds" matches are not regarded as first-class. In this match not only did the M.C.C. team have 15 batsmen they also had 15 players in the field. Green Lillywhite says of this match: "Before the publication of the names of the respective sides there was every prosepct of a match at once worthy of the Transatlantic celebrity of Mr. Fitzgerald's team and the match-making sagacity of the Club Committee, but when the lists came out not a few intending spectators of the contest made up their minds for a disappointment. There really did not appear on the side of the fifteen 'metal' enough to encourage the hope of a good fight." The ACS does not regard this match as first-class. It should be noted that the ACS does include a small number of "odds" matches as first-class, including two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879 in which Grace took part.

The match for Gloucestershire in 1868 is not regarded as first-class by the ACS. Gloucestershire matches were only regarded as first-class from 1870 onwards. Green Lillywhite for 1869 does not include the 1868 match in Grace's first-class figures but Ashley-Cooper chose to add it to his totals for that season.

The remaining area of uncertainly relates to the status of Somerset. Grace played a number of matches for Gloucestershire against Somerset between 1879 and 1885. The 1879 and 1881 matches are not included in the first-class averages in Green Lillywhite or Red Lillywhite. In the 1882 edition Wisden states that "As it is, the untiring energy of the executive will be rewarded by seeing Somersetshire classed with the first-class counties in the coming season", clearly indicating that it did not regard Somerset as first-class in 1881. For the 1882 season both Green Lillywhite and Red Lillywhite include Grace's performance against Somerset in his first-class figures and Wisden remarks that "Somersetshire's debut among the first-class counties was disappointing". Grace's scores against Somerset in 1883 are also included in his first-class totals in Green Lillywhite and Red Lillywhite and similarly his scores in 1885 are included in Red Lillywhite first-class totals, Green Lillywhite having ceased publication by this time. Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game differs from the annuals and excludes Somerset from its first-class averages for the seaons 1882 to 1885^[7]. The final decision of the ACS was that Somerset were first-class between 1882 and 1885 but not before then. Ashley-Cooper chose to include the 1879 and 1881 as first-class.

It is worth noting that until the publication of the ACS lists of first-class matches Somerset publications had only treated the county as being first-class from its entry into the County Championship in 1891. Since the ACS published its lists publications about Somerset have conformed to the ACS lists including matches between 1882 and 1885 as first-class but not those before 1882.

The ACS were not the first group to be aware of the problems with Grace's career totals. Roy Webber had published the 'Playfair book of Cricket Records' in 1951 and included the 'Traditional' career figures for Grace. Webber made a detailed study of Grace's career and in Playfair Cricket Monthly for February 1961 produced his own revised figures, excluding matches he did not regard as first-class. In his later record books^[8] he includes both sets of numbers (which he refers to as the 'accepted figures' and 'corrected figures') in the career totals for Grace although he excludes Grace's 1873 double indicating that generally he used the 'corrected figures'. The same approach was used by Bill Frindall in his 'Kaye Book of Cricket Records' published in 1968. Webber's 'corrected figures' use a somewhat different set of matches to those used by the ACS. Webber include the Gloucestershire match played in 1868 but excludes the two England v XIII of Kent matches played in 1878 and 1879 and the 5 Gloucestershire v Somerset matches played between 1882 and 1885.

[edit] Bowling

Although not so controversial, there are also differences in the bowling figures of W.G. Grace. The 'Traditional' bowling figures for him as given in the 1916 obituary are 51,545 runs conceded, 2864 wickets + 12 wickets taken in innings where the runs conceded is not known, resulting in an average of 17.99. For some unknown reason the modern publications using these totals have added the wickets totals together (i.e. 2876) and give a resulting average of 17.92. The 2006 Playfair Cricket Annual is particularly confusing in this regard as for Alfred Shaw the wicket total is given as 2026+1, indicating the 1 wicket where the runs conceded is not known.

The Cricket Archive totals are 50980 runs conceded and 2809 wickets taken. Many of the differences are because of the exclusion of the 10 matches listed above, in which he took 68 wickets (including all 12 of the wickets taken in innings where the runs conceded are not known). There are however a number of instances where the bowling figures have been 'corrected' from those used by Ashley-Cooper. Three of these result in changes to the number of wickets taken:

• 1874 Gloucestershire v Sussex at Hove 1st innings, Hall b G.F. Grace not W.G. Grace
• 1876 Gloucestershire v Nottinghamshire at Nottingham 2nd innings, Padley c E.M. Grace b W.G. Grace not c E.M. Grace b G.F. Grace
• 1878 Gloucestershire v Lancashire at Clifton 1st innings, Kershaw c E.M. Grace b W.G. Grace not c E.M. Grace b G.F. Grace

[edit] Jack Hobbs

To convert from the 'ACS' to the 'traditional':

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 39, 31

exclude:

• 1930-31 9 matches 12 innings 1 not out 593 runs 2 centuries

The situation for Jack Hobbs is simpler than that for W.G. Grace and relates to a match for the M.C.C. v The Reef in 1909-10 and a tour of India and Ceylon by the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram's team in 1930-31. He did not score a century in the disputed 1909-10 match and since he was near the end of his career in 1930-31 the number of centuries he scored only differs between 'Traditional' and 'ACS' from 1930-31 when he had already scored over 170 centuries. The date of his 100th century is therefore unaffected and the date he passed W.G. Grace's total of centuries is only affected by differences in the number of centures W.G. Grace scored.

Wisden 1931 Part 1 page 329 states that "I have also to acknowledge receipt of a letter from Mr. H.E. Holmes of Durban, enclosing the text of a pronouncement made by the South African Board of Control to the effect that, in the opinion of that body, the contest between the M.C.C. team and The Reef at Vogelfontein on December 22 and 23, 1909, was not a first-class match. In the course of this encounter Hobbs scored 70 runs which are counted in his first-class aggregate. Seeing that the game was regarded, at the time it was played, as first-class and until a little while ago had been left in undisputed possession of that rank, the need for raising any question about the matter after more than twenty years is not at all obvious. In any circumstances, I should not advice the dragging up of what, with all due respect to the recent ruling of the South African Board, must remain a debatable matter. The Reef team included some Test match players and others who had appeared in Inter-State games so it certainly had considerable claims to be regarded as first-class and from that standing, I cannot, all things considered, agree after such a long lapse of time to reduce it. Outside the merits of the case, is there not something rather grotesque in the idea of a controllong body sitting in solemn conclave over so small a matter and deciding to upset what had been accepted for twenty years?". So Wisden decided to ignore the ruling. Perhaps the South African Board thought it was a 2 day match. Wisden for 1911 clearly states that "not a ball could be bowled on the first and fourth days" clearly showing that it was actually planned as a 4 day match. An appeal in 1971 to overturn this ruling was refused^[9]. The ACS accepts the official ruling, even though it regards it as incorrect, while Wisden and others still regard it as first-class.

An M.C.C. tour was planned to tour India in 1930-31 but due to civil disturbances this tour was cancelled^[10]. The Maharajkumar of Vizianagram determined to organise his own tour which included many of India's principal players. In addition Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe were engaged. The matches were not reported in Wisden and were not included in the career totals of Jack Hobbs or Herbert Sutcliffe. Wisden rarely reported on Indian cricket except for the Bombay Tournament. During the tour the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram's team toured Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and played three 3-day matches also regarded by the ACS as first-class^[11]. During these matches Jack Hobbs scored two centuries in Ceylon while Herbert Sutcliffe scored one century in India and one in Ceylon. Proponents of the idea argue that no matches on this tour should be counted as first-class often report that Jack Hobbs himself did not regard them as such. It is clearly an unsatisfactory idea that one of the players involved should determine the first-class status of matches especially one who had no idea of the normal strength of Indian domestic first-class cricket at that time which was generally weaker than English domestic cricket.

[edit] Other cricketers

Although the differences between career totals are most often noticed for W.G. Grace and Jack Hobbs, there are also differences for a large number of other players. Clearly the inclusion or exclusion of matches noted above affects the totals for other cricketers playing in these matches, and there are other matches where there is disagreement regarding their first-class status. In addition there may be different versions of scorecards which lead to different totals. This is more common with bowling and fielding figures.

A detailed comparison of differences between various publications was produced by Philip Bailey in 1987^[12][13].

[edit] Batting

Of those who scored 35,000 first-class runs the following are affected^[14]:

Frank Woolley

included in the traditional figures but not in ACS :

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 3, 7*

Herbert Sutcliffe

exclude:

• 1930-31 7 matches 10 innings 1 not out 532 runs 2 centuries

Tom Hayward

Cricket Archive has run total reduced by 4. Surrey v Essex at Leyton 1896, in 2nd innings Wisden has Bobby Abel 4, Hayward 8 while Cricket Archive has Abel 8, Hayward 4

Wilfred Rhodes

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 24, 56*

exclude

• 1922-23 4 matches 8 innings 1 not out 247 runs

4 matches played in Indian domestic cricket.

David Denton

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 17, 22

George Hirst

exclude:

• 1892 Yorkshire v Liverpool 4, 29*

This is ranked as first-class by the ACS, as are other Liverpool v Yorkshire matches between 1887 and 1894. This match was not ranked as first-class by the contemporary publications although some other Liverpool v Yorkshire matches in other seasons were.

[edit] Bowling

Of those who scored 2,000 first-class wickets the following are affected (currently limited to differences in the games played or wickets taken)^[15]:

Wilfred Rhodes

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef did not bowl

exclude:

• 1922-23 329 runs 17 wickets

4 matches played in Indian domestic cricket.

George Hirst

exclude:

• 1892 Yorkshire v Liverpool 1/40, 2/50

Colin Blythe

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 3/37

Ewart Astill

Cricket Archive has increased wickets taken by 1

Jack White

Cricket Archive has reduced wickets taken by 1. Somerset v Surrey at Bath 1920, in 2nd innings Wisden has Bill Hitch b White while Cricket Archive has him b Jimmy Bridges

George Dennett

exclude:

• 1917-18 Bengal Governor's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI 4/69

Frank Woolley

include:

• 1909-10 M.C.C. v The Reef 2/8

Jack Newman

exclude:

• 1917-18 Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI v Bengal Governor's XI 5/22, 3/32
• 1918-19 Bengal Governor's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI 5/94
• 1918-19 MC Bird's XI v Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI 5/104, 4/34

[edit] References