In an article - Wisden: Cricket's Bible and testament to the global game - posted on the Cricketeurope.com website written by Tim Brooks highlights just some of the accomplishments that Bermuda and Bermudians have made to Cricket Globally.
Brooks writes, there are few days in the calendar as eagerly anticipated as the sun-dappled morning in Spring when you first turn over the yellow cover of the world’s most cherished almanac. This year was particularly poignant for me as the 149th edition included my own modest contribution, a brief description of the St George's Oval in Hungary, a spectacular eco cricket ground carved out of a Hungarian quarry, where spectators enjoy an elevated view of the action from a verdant cliff-top.
If cricket is an establishment game, as many delight in it being, then Wisden is its revered, statesmanlike orator. But though it is steeped in tradition and cricketing folklore it is, under the editorship of the affable and erudite Lawrence Booth at least, anything but a paean to the game’s over-bearing oligarchy. Short of selecting Kevin O’Brien as one of the five cricketers of the year he has provided a truly global perspective and not flinched in confronting contentious topics such as ICC Governance and the Woolf Report.
Though there are 105 cricketing nations only a small proportion play matches that are officially recognized as First Class, List A, or List A T20 fixtures. For instance, though the World Cricket league features eight divisions, only the top two are awarded List A status. It follows then that associate and affiliate nations are under-represented. However, in spite of this limitation to exposure the level of coverage of non full members came as a pleasant surprise. In addition to the Cricket Round the World section, featuring pithy summaries from all corners of the sport’s hinterlands, it features lengthy essays on the six High Performance Programme nations and a detailed summary of the Intercontinental Cup. It is disappointing that there is no coverage of the World Cricket League and a summary of programmes and progress from each development region would be a welcome addition. I very much hope these will be considered for the landmark 150th edition next year.
Only Eight Associate Teams (Canada, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Kenya, UAE, Namibia, Bermuda) and four former associates (Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and East Africa) have featured in World Cups. The current associates have played 104 matches, winning 15.
Kevin O’Brien and Alex Cusack hold the record 6th wicket partnership with 162 against England in Bangalore. It was a record breaking match (and one of mixed Emotions for me as an Englishman). Ashish Bagai, of Canada, is among the eleven wicket-keepers to claim more than 20 World Cup dismissals.
Bermuda have the distinction of conceding the most runs in a World Cup match, hemorrhaging 413-5 against India in 2007. Kenya are second on the list with 398-5 against Sri Lanka in 1996.
Associates hold seven of the ten lowest innings totals, with Canada’s paltry 36 the lowest. They have also suffered four ten wicket defeats.
I’ll finish with this cricketing oddity. The second longest recorded throw of a cricket ball took place in Toronto, Canada, measured at 140 yards and nine inches in 1872.
2011 saw Wisden commemorate three former associate players, all with an Americas connection. Cecil Marshall was a Trinidadian who played an influential role in Canada’s qualification for the 1979 World Cup. Sheridan Raynor, a Bermudan batsman once recommend for a test trial by Sir Garfield Sobers (who was informed that Bermuda wasn’t within the WICB), plundered runs against touring teams to the Ireland. Derek Wight was a pioneer and champion of the game in the Cayman Islands.
