Andrew Keith Hignell (born 12 October 1959 in Gloucester) [1] is a cricket historian and scorer.
Hignell has a PhD in Geography from Cardiff University. He has been the Glamorgan 1st XI scorer since 1982. For over 25 years he combined a career as a teacher at independent schools with working on radio commentaries for BBC Radio Wales on the home and away matches of Glamorgan. In 2004 he left full-time teaching at Wells Cathedral School to become the Heritage and Education Co-Ordinator at Glamorgan Cricket, where he manages the Museum of Welsh Cricket at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.
Hignell has written numerous books on cricket. [2] [3] In Wisden Cricketers' Almanack , Alan Ross said Hignell's 1995 biography of Glamorgan's combative post-war captain Wilf Wooller, which was based on extensive interviews, revealed a "surprising warmth" in its subject. [4] Wisden's editor Graeme Wright, reviewing Hignell's 2001 biography of Malcolm Turnbull, praised Hignell as "a thorough researcher and a sound writer", adding that Hignell gets Turnbull "just right". [5] Reviewing Hignell's 2002 book Rain Stops Play, Wisden Cricket Monthly said, "Hignell's excellent volume should be required reading in both dressing-room and press box", and added that it was "a history of cricket with a strong geographical bias". [6] The Welsh historian John Idris Jones, writing in Planet , said of Hignell's Cricket in Wales (2008), "As a chronicle of cricket in Wales, it is not likely to be surpassed", [7] while Duncan Stone, reviewing Cricket in Wales in the journal Sport in History, said "Hignell's obviously exhaustive research informs, illuminates and entertains". [8]
Hignell was awarded The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians' 1988 Statistician of the Year award "for his work on the history and statistics of Glamorgan". [9]
Glamorgan County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan. Founded in 1888, Glamorgan held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship before the First World War. In 1921, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status, subsequently playing in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England and Wales.
John Charles Clay was a Welsh cricketer who played first-class cricket for Glamorgan from 1921 to 1949. He also played one Test match for England in 1935.
Malcolm Andrew Nash was a Welsh cricket player and coach. He played first-class cricket for Glamorgan. Nash was a left-arm medium-pace bowler and useful lower-order left-handed batsman. He made his debut for the county in 1966 and was released by the county after the 1983 season. He captained the county in 1980 and 1981. He took the most wickets for Glamorgan in 1969 when it won the county championship. In 1985, he played his last one-day match for Shropshire. Between 1966 and 1983 in his 17 years career, Nash took 993 first-class wickets, scored 7,129 runs and held 148 catches. He died on 30 July 2019 in London at the age of 74 years.
Cricketers from Wales are currently represented by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and compete for the England cricket team. There have been some historical instances of a separate Welsh team in the 1920–30s, in the 1979 ICC Trophy, and in the British Isles Championship between 1993 and 2001, however Wales is not a separate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
William John Spiller, was a Welsh rugby union player and cricketer. His greatest achievements were in rugby, where he won ten international caps at centre for Wales between 1910 and 1913, but his short first-class cricket career was also notable as he was the first man to score a century for Glamorgan after their elevation to first-class status in the 1921 season. A right-handed batsman, he also made six appearances in the Minor Counties Championship for Durham.
Maurice Joseph Lawson Turnbull was a Welsh cricketer who played in nine Test matches for the England cricket team between 1930 and 1936.
William Gilbert Anthony Parkhouse was a Welsh cricketer who played in seven Tests for England in 1950, 1950–51 and 1959.
Wilfred Wooller was a Welsh sportsman, cricket administrator, and journalist.
Bernard Leonard Muncer was a cricketer who played for Middlesex and Glamorgan.
Lenard Winston Hill was a Welsh sportsman, who played first-class cricket for Glamorgan, league football for Swansea Town and Newport County and was also a talented tennis player. It was mentioned that he only went to play football professionally so he could spend more time practising in the nets for cricket. In later life Len was a keen golfer with a handicap of 3 and represented Wales Seniors.
Percy Frank Bush was a Welsh rugby union player who played international rugby for Wales on eight occasions. Playing at fly-half, Bush is regarded as one of the most talented Welsh players of the pre-First World War era.
Cricket is a popular sport in Wales; it started in the late 18th century, and has been played in Wales ever since. All cricket within Wales is regulated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), making it effectively part of the English cricket system. Glamorgan County Cricket Club is Wales' only first-class county team, and Welsh players are eligible to represent England as Wales does not currently have its own Test cricket team or cricket body. Cricket is played within the Welsh schools system, and is considered one of the country's main summer sports.
Francis 'Frank' Peter Ryan was an English first-class cricketer. After serving in the First World War with the Royal Flying Corps, Ryan played as a professional for Hampshire from 1919 to 1920. A heavy-drinker who was known for having a short-temper, he fell out with Hampshire and walked out on the club, subsequently joining Glamorgan as their professional between 1923 and 1931. He made over 200 appearances for the Welsh county, taking over 900 wickets as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. Following the end of his career, he would play club cricket in the Lancashire and South Wales League, as well as in Yorkshire.
James M Jones, known as Jimmy Jones, played first-class cricket for Somerset and Glamorgan in the 1920s. He also appeared in first-class cricket matches for the Wales team.
David Wilfred Hughes was a Welsh cricketer. Hughes was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm fast-medium. He was born in Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire.
Cardiff Cricket Club is a cricket club based in Whitchurch, Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1819 and forms the cricket section of Cardiff Athletic Club with its headquarters at Cardiff Arms Park. The first team plays in the South Wales Premier Cricket League. It is one of the oldest sporting organisations in the whole of Wales.
Trevor Arnott was a Welsh cricketer who played first-class cricket as an amateur from 1921 to 1935.
Richard George Duckfield was a Welsh cricketer who played first-class cricket for Glamorgan between 1930 and 1938 as a right-hand bat. Largely successful between 1932 and 1938, Duckfield held for a time the record high score for any Glamorgan player – 280 against Surrey. He retired from the game in 1938 after a loss of confidence in his own fielding, having scored exactly 7,000 runs.
James Thomas Eaglestone was an English cricketer who played 60 first-class cricket matches, initially for Middlesex in 1947, before moving to Glamorgan for the 1948 and 1949 seasons. Known largely for his skills as a fielder – for he found only moderate success with the bat – Eaglestone enjoys the unusual distinction of having featured in two different County Championship-winning sides in consecutive seasons.
Welsh Fire are a franchise 100-ball cricket side based in the city of Cardiff. The team represents the historic counties of Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Somerset in the newly founded competition called The Hundred, which took place for the first time during the 2021 English and Welsh cricket season. Both the men's and women's teams play their home games at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.