Alongside Felix on the Bat, the Lillywhite family published the Companion to the Bat in 1845 — a short instructional pamphlet on batting and bowling that ran in successive editions through the 1840s and 1850s and helped to establish the Lillywhite name as the dominant force in cricket publishing before Wisden.
Cricket instructional literature before 1845 was thin. Nyren's Young Cricketer's Tutor (1833) was a memoir; the Lillywhites had been publishing single-sheet laws and fixture cards since the 1830s but no substantial instruction.
The Lillywhite family business expanded steadily through the 1840s. Frederick was the most active publisher; his father William contributed cricket expertise.
The Lillywhite Companion to the Bat was a short, cheap instructional book aimed at the aspiring club cricketer. It first appeared in 1845, the same year as Felix's much more substantial Felix on the Bat, and was reissued in successive editions through the late 1840s and 1850s. The text covered bat selection, stance, the strokes and basic bowling technique; it was less ambitious than Felix's work but cheaper, more portable and aimed at a wider audience. Together with the Lillywhite Guide (the annual that began in 1849), the Companion established the Lillywhite name on cricket bookshelves in every clubroom in the country. The 1840s family publishing operation, run principally by Frederick Lillywhite with editorial input from his father William, was the foundation on which all subsequent cricket book publishing — including Wisden's 1864 first edition — was built.
1833: Nyren's Young Cricketer's Tutor sets template for cricket memoir
1840s: Lillywhite family expands publishing operation
1845: Companion to the Bat first published
1845-58: Successive editions follow
1849: Lillywhite Guide begins as annual
1845
Companion to the Bat first published
Late 1840s
Successive editions
1849
Lillywhite Guide begins as annual
1864
Wisden's first edition appears as a competitor
The Companion remained in print into the 1860s and was eventually superseded by W.G. Grace's longer instruction books and by the Wisden annual.
The cheap-and-cheerful instructional manual that took cricket coaching to the club and parish level, complementing Felix's grander Felix on the Bat.
Together with Felix on the Bat and the Lillywhite Guide, the Companion to the Bat established the working conventions of nineteenth-century cricket publishing. The Lillywhite family dominance lasted until Wisden took over in the 1880s.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.