Playfair Cricket Annual


Playfair Cricket Annual is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to review the previous English season and to provide detailed career records and potted biographies of current players. It is produced in a "pocket-sized" format, being approximately 5×4 in, so that it is a convenient size for carrying to cricket matches. The front cover of each edition has featured a photograph of a prominent current cricketer. There is a popular myth that this "honour" has a "hex" or "curse" associated with it, as the player featured then invariably has a poor season.

Publications

The original publisher was Playfair Books Ltd of London, which had its office at Curzon Street when the first edition was published in April 1948; the company relocated soon afterwards to Haymarket. The name Playfair was chosen because it reads as "play fair", as confirmed by C B Fry who began his foreword to the first edition in 1948: "This Playfair Annual will commend itself to innumerable readers". The first editor was Peter West who was succeeded in 1954 by Gordon Ross. Roy Webber was the statistician at Playfair for many years and was described by West as "that ace of statisticians".
The Playfair Cricket Annual is one of a series of similar pocket sized sporting annuals published under the Playfair name. Others have included Playfair Football Annual, Playfair Rugby League Annual and Playfair Racing Annual. In addition the Playfair name was used for record books produced by Roy Webber and for the magazine Playfair Cricket Monthly. A number of tour brochures were also produced by Playfair Books.
Between 1948 and 1962 the annual was a larger size, 4¾×7¼ in and had a different style, being printed on glossy paper and including numerous photographs. In 1962 the Playfair titles were acquired by Dickens Press which had just published The Cricket Annual, edited by Roy Webber. In 1963, Dickens published a new style Playfair Cricket Annual, keeping the same name but basing the size, format and price on The Cricket Annual. Therefore, the 2013 edition is the 66th in total, but the annual has been published in its current compact size only since the 1963 edition.
In addition, Playfair Cricket World Cup Guide, in 1996, and Playfair Cricket World Cup 1999 were published in the same format as the regular annual to cover the International limited overs competitions in India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka and England/Scotland/Ireland/Netherlands in those years respectively. Both of those were also edited by Bill Frindall.
The current publisher is Headline Publishing Group with Ian Marshall, who succeeded Bill Frindall on an acting basis in 2009 and permanently for the 2010 edition, as editor. There are several specialist contributors, notably Philip Bailey who compiles the career records.
The following tables provide a summary of each annual by reference to editor, size and price:

Larger format: 1948–1962

YearEditorPricePages
1948Peter West3s 6d144
1949Peter West3s 6d144
1950Peter West3s 6d176
1951Peter West3s 6d176
1952Peter West5s184
1953Peter West5s192
1954Gordon Ross5s176
1955Gordon Ross5s176
1956Gordon Ross5s176
1957Gordon Ross5s176
1958Gordon Ross5s176
1959Gordon Ross6s176
1960Gordon Ross6s176
1961Gordon Ross6s176
1962Gordon Ross6s176

In each of the first 15 editions there was a 16-page photographic section in addition to the numbered pages. The 1948 annual was actually called Playfair Books Cricket Annual but subsequent years were simply called Playfair Cricket Annual. There were two issues of the 1948 annual with a difference in the back cover. One had a Playfair logo, the other a Schweppes advertisement.

Compact format: 1963–present

For the forerunners to the annual in this format see The Cricket Annual.
YearEditorCricketer on Front CoverCricketer on Back CoverPricePages
1963Gordon RossGarfield Sobersn/a2s 6d192
1964Gordon RossBob Simpsonn/a2s 6d224
1965Gordon RossKen Barringtonn/a2s 6d224
1966Gordon RossWes Halln/a3s224
1967Gordon RossBrian Closen/a3s224
1968Gordon RossBasil d'Oliveiran/a3s 6d224
1969Gordon RossAlan Knottn/a3s 6d224
1970Gordon RossJohn Edrichn/a4s224
1971Gordon RossJohn Snown/a20p224
1972Gordon RossGeoff Boycottn/a22p224
1973Gordon RossTony Greign/a25p224
1974Gordon RossBishen Bedin/a35p224
1975Gordon RossDennis Amissn/a50p212
1976Gordon RossClive Lloydn/a50p224
1977Gordon RossDennis Lilleen/a60p224
1978Gordon RossMike Brearleyn/a65p224
1979Gordon RossIan Bothamn/a75p224
1980Gordon RossGraham Goochn/a90p240
1981Gordon RossGeoff Boycottn/a£1240
1982Gordon RossAllan Lambn/a£1.10256
1983Gordon RossDavid Gowern/a£1.25256
1984Gordon RossViv Richardsn/a£1.50256
1985Gordon RossPaul Downtonn/a£1.75256
1986Bill FrindallAllan Bordern/a£1.75256
1987Bill FrindallJohn Embureyn/a£1.75256
1988Bill FrindallGraeme Hickn/a£1.75256
1989Bill FrindallJack Russelln/a£1.75256
1990Bill FrindallAngus Frasern/a£1.99256
1991Bill FrindallRobin Smithn/a£2.50256
1992Bill FrindallPhillip DeFreitasn/a£2.99256
1993Bill FrindallAlec Stewartn/a£3.99256
1994Bill FrindallMike Athertonn/a£3.99256
1995Bill FrindallDarren Goughn/a£4.50288
1996Bill FrindallWasim Akramn/a£4.99288
1997Bill FrindallShane Warne & Graham Thorpen/a£4.99288
1998Bill FrindallNasser HussainHansie Cronje£4.99288
1999Bill FrindallMark RamprakashAllan Donald & Mike Atherton£4.99288
2000Bill FrindallAndrew CaddickJack Russell & Mark Alleyne£5.99288
2001Bill FrindallSteve WaughMike Atherton & Alec Stewart£5.99304
2002Bill FrindallMarcus TrescothickMichael Vaughan£5.99304
2003Bill FrindallAndrew FlintoffMark Butcher£5.99304
2004Bill FrindallMichael VaughanBrian Lara£6.99304
2005Bill FrindallSteve HarmisonThe Ashes Urn£6.99304
2006Bill FrindallAndrew FlintoffEngland team celebrating Ashes victory£6.99320
2007Bill FrindallIan BellSachin Tendulkar£6.99320
2008Bill FrindallMonty PanesarStephen Fleming£6.99320
2009Bill Frindall*Ricky PontingKevin Pietersen£6.99336
2010Ian MarshallAndrew StraussJames Anderson£6.99336
2011Ian MarshallGraeme SwannEngland Ashes winning team with the Ashes urn£7.99336
2012Ian MarshallKevin PietersenAndrew Strauss holding ICC Test mace£7.99336
2013Ian MarshallAlastair CookMatt Prior£7.99336
2014Ian MarshallStuart BroadIan Bell£8.99336
2015Ian MarshallJoe RootMichael Clarke£8.99336
2016Ian MarshallBen StokesMoeen Ali£8.99336
2017Ian MarshallJonny BairstowChris Woakes£9.99336
2018Ian MarshallJames AndersonHeather Knight£9.99352
2019Ian MarshallJos ButtlerSam Curran£9.99352
2020Ian MarshallJofra ArcherEoin Morgan£9.99352

From the 1998 edition onwards a thumbnail picture also appeared on the spine of the annual. This has been a smaller version of the front cover photograph except in 1998 and 2008, when it was the back cover picture, and in 2006 and 2010 when the Ashes urn was depicted.

Compact format: World Cup Guides

Apart from those on the covers, there are no photographs in any of the annuals from 1963.

Eleven cricketers of the year

From 1950 to 1962 the annual produced a list of its Eleven Cricketers of the Year for the previous season. Tony Lock was selected 7 times, Peter May 6 times.
Since the first compact edition of 1963, the core of the publication has been a section providing a county by county list of current cricketers with potted biographies, their county averages in the previous season together with some introductory notes on the county and the major county records.
The county clubs are listed in alphabetical order. Until 1962, the biographies occupied less space and were not sorted by county club. Introductory information about each county club has expanded, largely because of the introduction of limited overs cricket competitions. A much longer list of officials is now given; originally only the secretary and captain were given. Until 1972 most editions gave potted scores for each club's home matches but lack of space caused this to be removed.

Current contents

Currently, the annual's contents typically include:
As one of the leading statistical cricket publications, Playfair has to take a view on the status of Test, One Day International, first-class and domestic one-day matches. It generally complies with the statistics published by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack and will sometimes ignore official rulings: e.g., the ICC ruling that South African rebel tours between 1981-82 and 1989-90 were not first-class matches. The 2010 edition overturned Frindall's long-held view that the match between Australia and an ICC World XI in 2005/06 should not be regarded as a Test Match and now includes it in its Test record section.