The Cricket Society is a not-for-profit organisation formed in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has over 1,500 members in the United Kingdom and the cricket playing countries of the world. Its current President is John Barclay. The Society celebrates the best of cricket, past, present and future through events, awards, publications and playing via The Cricket Society XI and supporting state schools cricket through the Cricket Society Trust.
The Cricket Society celebrated its 80th birthday on 17th November 2025 with an all-star dinner in London. Several tributes were made to The Society and its long history, notably by among others David Kynaston and President, John Barclay.
Awards are presented, mainly at the Society's Autumn Lunch, among them:-
The Cricket Society established its Book of the Year Award in 1970 and, in partnership with MCC since 2009, now hosts an annual Awards Evening each spring in the Long Room at Lord's [1]
In 2020 the Society instituted the Howard Milton Award for Cricket Scholarship in partnership with the British Society of Sports History, which is given to an individual or institution that has contributed a significant body of work to the history of the game. Recent winners include Ramachandra Guha (2022), Clem Seecharan (2023), The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (2024) and Neil Robinson, Head of Heritage & Collections at MCC (2025).
Throughout the year, The Society holds regular meetings for members and guests, featuring famous names from cricket at venues in Central London, most notably as the Union Jack Club and the Civil Service Club.
The Society also holds regular meetings for the members in Bath and Birmingham at which invited speakers address the audience. The Southwest and Midlands branches are chaired by Stephen Chalke and Mike Williams respectively. Both are supported by Committees of dedicated cricket followers who organise impressive schedules supported by substantial audiences.
In addition The Cricket Society runs on-line monthly interviews with cricketing luminaries throughout the UK winter. This allows those who cannot attend meetings in London, Bath and Birmingham to enjoy hearing from important figures in the game.
During the UK summer The Cricket Society continues to organise events including the popular 'Days at the Cricket' - in 2025 these took place at Leicester, Taunton and Beckenham.
The Society has a cricket team (The Cricket Society XI) which plays around 30 games each season in South London, South West London, Surrey and Sussex primarily on Sundays and mid-week.
Through its charitable arm, The Cricket Society Trust, the Society raises money to give state school educated children greater opportunity to play cricket. The Cricket Society Trust supports a state schools tournament at Kimbolton School each year in conjunction with the R66T Academy and the MCC Foundation.
The Cricket Society publishes a Journal (bi-annually) and a regular news Bulletin (six times per annum) for its subscribed membership. The Journal features cricket writing spanning the full history of the game, while The Bulletin focuses on the modern game and also reports on the many Society events and activities.
Over 45 years ago, The Society commissioned E.W. Padwick to compile a comprehensive bibliography of cricket literature under the title A Bibliography of Cricket. The first edition, published in 1977 by the Library Association had 8,294 entries. [2] A revised edition, published in 1984, extended this to over 10,000 entries ( ISBN 978-0853659020). A second volume, published in 1991 as Padwick's Bibliography of Cricket, Volume 2, was compiled by Stephen Eley and Peter Griffiths and covers works published between 1980 and 1990 ( ISBN 978-0853655282).
The Cricket Society began naming a book of the year in 1970. Since 2009 the award has been made in partnership with MCC. [3] It carries a prize of £3000, which is presented at an awards evening each spring in the Long Room at Lord's. [4]
1• 1945-1946 F. A. Mackinnon, The Mackinnon of Mackinnon
2• 1947-1959 Hubert Preston
3• 1960-1961 H. S. Altham
4• 1961-1962 Lord Birkett
5• 1963-1968 A. A. Thomson
6• 1969-1973 Lt-Gen Sir Oliver Leese
7• 1974-1975 A. M. Crawley
8• 1976-1983 E. W. Swanton
9• 1983-1998 G. H. G. Doggart
10• 1998-2008 C. D. A. Martin-Jenkins
11• 2008-onwards J. R. T. Barclay
1• 1945-1946 A. Weigall
2• 1946-1947 Capt. J. A. Bayliss
3• 1947-1953 G. A. Copinger
4• 1953-1960 A. R. Whitaker
5• 1960-1965 Dr R. W. Cockshut
6• 1965-1966 L. E. S. Gutteridge
7• 1966-1983 C. C. W. Box-Grainger
8• 1983-1992 R. N. Haygarth
9• 1992-2003 D. Allsop
10• 2003-2008 W. R. Allen
11• 2008 I. R. Jackson
12• 2008-2012 D. E. Barnard
13• 2012-2021 N. Hancock
14. 2023 - to date P. M. Hardy
5. https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/cricket-society-and-mcc-book-of-the-year-award-