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MAGAZINE REVIEW PART 2 - THE WISDEN CRICKETER

Older Edition FYI
By Kenny Shovel February 12 2007
Not content with book reviews Kenny has diversified into magazines. In three parts he looks at the relative merits of the top 3 cricket magazine titles on the market - All Out Cricket, The Wisden Cricketer and Spin. The second magazine that Kenny test drives is The Wisden Cricketer February edition.

Occupying the opposite end of the spectrum to All Out Cricket is The Wisden Cricketer; an amalgamation of two old covers The Cricketer and Wisden Cricket Monthly.

 

From the first casual flick through the pages you can feel the quality of this publication. An impression backed up by reading the excellent editorial, which sets the tone for the rest of the magazine.

 

What follows is a twelve-page section called ‘Openers’, which is roughly equivalent to "the Bumper" from AOC. It’s hard not to compare the two publications on the basis of this alone, as ‘Openers’ proves to be an object lesson in how to write high quality short articles, with the opinion columns by Scyld Berry and Kevin Mitchell being particular highlights.

 

Mention also needs to be made of an interesting piece about the world-wide state of pitch preparation. From there the quality is maintained with comprehensive coverage of the Ashes series, which includes a tour diary from David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd, as well as extensive match reports, scorecards and statistics. Significantly, the players are marked out of ten and compared to the Ashes series of 2005 when the same system was used. On the surface that’s a fairly simple and perhaps obvious thing to do. It does prove to be illuminating, as well as giving the feeling that the magazine has been around long enough to know what it’s doing. It’s also worth noting that writers show a willingness to criticise players and at times point fingers.

 

The usual mix of player interviews, profiles, and recollections of past series can be found, but enough space is given for them to have a reassuring ring of quality. The stand out feature article in this edition proves to be a background piece into the troubled career of Mark Vermeulen. A career which has lurched from his ban from English cricket following a ball throwing incident whilst he was playing in the Lancashire leagues, to the current day, where he is on trail for arson back home in Zimbabwe. Finally The Wisden Cricketer rounds things off by covering everything else you’d want to be included in a mini version of Wisden itself, as other test series are reported on and obituaries find space next to reviews of books and equipment.

 

Verdict: The Wisden Cricketer is quality from front to back, with writers employed because they can write with real skill, rather than they are current players who should be in a position have extra insight. Ok, it’s a little bit formal, and not the sort of magazine that’s going to compete easily for the attention of the iPod generation, but that is something cricket will always struggle with. Instead this magazine concentrates on doing the basics as well as it can, making it the monthly publication for the purest, who takes their cricket seriously.

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