Book Review - Golden Mondays by John Shawcroft

The latest book that I have been sent for review requires me to express an immediate interest. Recently I was asked to name my three desert island books and I had no hesitation in the first two, both by the same author. They were John Shawcroft's "History of Derbyshire County Cricket Club" and his masterful "Local Heroes" about the 1936 Championship winning side. Those books are never far from my bedside and they have been read and re-read on numerous occasions. So when I received the latest offering from the author, courtesy of the Association of Cricket Historians and Statisticians, I was naturally excited.

"Golden Mondays: the Story of Cricket's Bank Holiday Matches" is exactly that, an account of the highlights of such fixtures from the earliest days of the County Championship through to their effective swansong in the late 1990s, although occasional quirks of the fixture scheduling allow them to take place to this day. The halcyon days of such traditional fixtures as Nottinghamshire v Surrey, Derbyshire v Warwickshire, Gloucestershire v Somerset and, of course, Yorkshire v Lancashire are long gone, victim of a modern need for revenue over established though declining rivalry, not to mention two-division and one-day county cricket.

When Whit Monday and August Bank Holiday Monday were introduced as part of the Bank Holidays Act of 1871, which regulated public holidays, cricket soon recognised the possibilities. The new holidays, coupled with the emerging Saturday half-day, were of massive social importance and their popularity was reflected in huge attendances at county cricket matches on those days. For people working in factories and coal mines, the opportunity of a day in the sun while watching their sporting heroes  was irresistible.

As one might expect with the author and publisher, it is beautifully researched and produced, with a good number of photographs. For cricket fans of a certain age, among who I now number myself, it is a stroll down memory lane, a reminiscence session on paper. Names and matches leap out from the page and the personal observations from the protagonists are both pertinent and enjoyable.

Criticisms? Well, there are perhaps not enough of the latter. Maybe I have been spoilt by the wonderful books of Stephen Chalke, but the book would have benefited from more personal anecdotes, as a few sections are a little dry, potted match accounts following one another in quick fashion. I also feel, given the likely demographic of the target audience, that the text size of the book is a little on the small side, though I am fully aware of the cost implications in increasing this and subsequently the number of pages.

In short? It is not, unlike the author's previous works, indispensable, but it is well worth the money for an enjoyable stroll down memory lane. For the young cricket fan in your life I would not necessarily recommend it, but for the older afficianado with an interest in the game's rich history and the perennially engaging fixtures and people that have made it so, you will find this well worth the money.

John Shawcroft's "Golden Mondays: the story of Cricket's Bank Holiday Matches" is published by the Association of Cricket Historians and Statisticians, priced £20. It can be purchased by going to their web site via the link below

http://acscricket.com/?page_id=45&category=12

Remember - Christmas is coming...