The 162nd edition of Wisden Cricketer´s Almanack arrived a couple of months ago. It´s far more expensive here in Spain since Brexit but having the previous 161 editions on the bookshelves acts as a powerful incentive to keep on. The normal approach: start with the Notes by the Editor (good for some controversy), the various and increasing categories of Cricketers of the Year, some of the features and then turn to the Wisden Writing Competition. The competition remains the same: a short essay (480-500 words) on any cricket related topic. The winning entry gets a full page in Wisden.

I knew I had not won this year´s competition (they contact the winner in January) so I read the winning entry. Dan Forman´s third attempt, the first time a winner has been third time lucky, usually it´s first timers! Only 72 entries this year, the lowest since the competition started in 2013. As usual most entries are from first timers. Paul Caswell and David Fraser maintain their ever-present record with four of us on 11 out of 13. Around 80% only enter once. For many I guess the attraction is seeing your name in Wisden. The actual prize is small: a £250 voucher to be used on the excellent www.wisdenauction.com, a key site if you are seeking to add to your collection of Wisdens but of little use otherwise. The parallel photographic competition has a prize of £1,000 and two £400 prizes. It attracts far more entries. Three professional photographers scooped the awards this year.

I´ll come back to his entry but what struck me first was that something has been missing from the Writing Competition: T20. None of the 13 winning entries have rejoiced over a T20 (nor in the last four years over the Hundred). Are they not featuring in the entries or is the Wisden editorial team biased against these “interlopers”? The Hundred was specifically aimed at encouraging new fans: what has been their experience? No parent enthusing about the impact a T20/Hundred had on their children? Or how it is energised women’s cricket? Or how the razzmatazz of the IPL has transformed their cricketing enjoyment?

The privatisation of the Hundred currently floods cricketing social media on BlueSky and Twitter (now X). The new ownership´s demands will prompt a radical change of the English cricket season over the next few years. Wisden 2025 devotes just 23 pages (out of 1584) to the 2024 women´s and men’s tournaments. I wonder if Wisden 2026 will give greater priority to the multi-million product and have the same depth of reports as the county championship matches or continue to bury it around page 730.

Dan Forman´s winning entry takes us a long way from the international entrepreneurs of the Hundred. A warm paean to the intergenerational glue that binds village club teams. Entitled “Alan Bennett´s baton” it draws on some unacknowledged references (Philip Larkin, Mike Brearley and perhaps Shakespeare in Love) without quite falling into John Majorism nostalgia. I liked the reference to “donkey drops”; a rare appearance both in Wisden and coaching manuals. So just what is the appeal of village cricket?

“If there is a secret it might be something to do with the grounds or the teas. It´s definitely something to do with the camaraderie and the captaincy. But ultimately it´s intangible”.

“Intangible”, a simple way of describing the appeal of the game. No need to elaborate, to further define, to become lost in reminisces, in records, in Cardusian flowery phrases. And so I thought of UNESCO; perhaps a strange jump but the global cultural and scientific body organises a list of “intangible heritage.” It runs parallel to the better known World Heritage List of buildings, ancient monuments, landscapes and industrial legacies. The Intangible list includes dances, food, festivals and many other rituals. The aim is to “safeguard our living heritage”. It is often mocked, especially in the right wing media, but the awards demonstrate the diversity of cultural traditions and practices around the world: they all engender a deep attachment. There are already sporting entries, including from Georgia, Kazakhstan and Belgium, under the umbrella category of social practices, rituals and festive events.

And why not add cricket? Not the professional version but the village, recreational, amateur, community version? Wisden rarely covers it but it is the true grassroots of the game. It is the arena of charming, historic, stories from Siegfried Sassoon, Hugh de Sélincourt and L.P Hartley. The past of club cricket was indeed a different country, as Duncan Stone has pointed out but change is happening. According to ECB research, around 30 per cent of recreational cricketers are the new British of South Asian heritage showing how the grassroots game in moving with the times.

Today, social media is the place to go for a dynamic overview of the best, the worst (and the comic) in village matches. There is a regular post asking “what was the most village thing that happened this weekend”. WGRumblePants posts photos of beautiful grounds daily; rural delights. Maybe the Wisden 2026 review of social media could move off the professional gossip and dig into the grassroots.

The grassroots game needs support and encouragement. The number of clubs is declining; many are having difficulty in attracting new opponents, players and grounds. There is hope. The grassroots game is due 10% of the money from the Hundred´s privatisation. Some estimate that this means around £50m. There is no news yet on how or to whom it will be delivered. Let´s hope some of it goes to the type of clubs supported by the Googly Fund (Dan Forman is co-founder and a trustee):

By friendly cricket, we mean cricket that is not being played in a league, and where the main aim of playing is as much social as competitive (though there’s nothing wrong with a bit of friendly rivalry). This might be cricket that is played by Sunday teams of established clubs, or more ad hoc cricket played by work or ‘pub’ teams on a mid-week evening.

The UK finally, and belatedly, ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2023. The 183rd country to sign up. Later in 2025 DCMS will issue a call for nominations to an inventory of traditions and crafts: sports and games is one of the seven categories. It´s the first step before bidding for thEarly candidates include cask beer!

Here is a definition of intangible heritage:

Intangible Cultural Heritage encompasses the rich tapestry of traditions, expressions, and practices that communities inherit from their ancestors and pass on to future generations.

Dan Forman captured that tapestry. Grassroots village cricket fits the bill. Will anyone prepare and submit a bid to DCMS?