Wisden Wisdom
My memory of the time I got punished in school because of Wisden remains vivid, almost 53 years later, as the latest Indian edition of the beloved cricket almanac arrives on my desk.
I received my first edition as a ninth birthday present, and was caught reading it during an arithmetic class. This so angered the teacher that I was asked to leave the room and report to the principal. Fortunately, the principal happened to be a cricket lover. While he couldn’t revoke the teacher’s decision, he seemed to understand my predicament, and reached a compromise that, in hindsight, seems ingenious.
I was made to write an apology to the teacher, and an imaginary letter to John Wisden, who founded the almanac in 1864, about why I liked cricket. My copy was confiscated, but given to the school library from where
I could borrow it provided I did not read it in class!
Cricket had entered my life a year or so earlier after I watched my first Test match at the Brabourne stadium in 1964—India beating Australia, no less!—and reached a point of obsession after I discovered Wisden.
The almanac opened up a whole new and wondrous world. No other compendium of work on any subject has given me as much joy, fed my intellect as much, provided as much fodder to start or settle arguments related to cricket.
To cut a long story short, Wisden has been a constant companion for over half a century. If anything, the relationship has become stronger— with the arrival of the Indian edition in 2012, it is more readily available, and cheaper.
In the six years since the desi edition started, it has gained significant traction among aficionados. A compendium of this nature must necessarily have great editorial heft, and Suresh Menon, who has been at the helm since the edition’s inception, does a marvellous job. Nothing concerning Indian cricket is missed, everything about cricket elsewhere is included. Barring the (appropriate) blue cover, the Indian edition is every bit as authoritative as the yellowcovered English version.
What did I like about the 2018 edition? The cover to start with. In 2017, India’s women cricketers won over our public imagination with their superb performance in the World Cup, and having them on the cover seems only fitting. This year, the focus is on the IPL, which completed 10 seasons redefining the present and future of cricket.
Simon Barnes’s passionate plea for resumption of Indo-Pak cricket will strike a chord in those who see sport as a medium for strengthening relationships in a divided world. I also rediscovered Sir Don Bradman’s archival piece from the 1986 Wisden about where he saw the game going—hugely perceptive.
It would be misplaced to discuss everything featured in Wisden 2018. Suffice it to say it is exhaustive in depth, and unrestricted in its landscape where the game is concerned. That Wisden is the Bible of cricket is a time-worn cliché. Indeed, some believe the Bible to be the Wisden of religion. Whichever way you tilt, the almanac is an asset to any library or bookshelf.
—Ayaz Memon