I have been far too slow to comment on the recently published book by Howard Milton and Peter Francis, entitled Kent County Cricket Grounds, with the enticing subtitle, 150 Years Of Cricket Across The Garden of England. Let me say at the outset that this is a wonderful book by any standards.

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For the lover of Kent cricket, it gives us a grand tour of all the grounds where Kent CCC have ever played a match: for the cricket historian, it is an invaluable addition to any library, here in Kent or anywhere else in the world; and for the lover of serendipity it is a treasure trove of unlikely stories and unlikely personalities, all of whom are in some way connected to the grounds at which the county has played.

It is far more than a topographical or horticultural tour of the Garden of England. The authors have included hundreds of photos, statistics and match descriptions to make this a book that even somebody with only a passing interest in cricket would like. As Howard Milton says, in his Introduction, the book “although primarily a study of cricket history, is just as much a study of local history.” Cricket in Kent is so much interwoven with the history and social development of the county at all levels, that any good book on cricket is also bound to be a book about Kent and its people. And this is a good book.

The research that has gone into it is remarkable. Howard and Peter have travelled to every ground which has ever staged a Kent match, including one not even in the county, and have taken photographs of what they look like now, as well as featuring old pictures of what they looked like in their heyday. Some of the photographs are of flourishing cricket grounds then and now; others are remarkably poignant, such as the one of the terraces at the Crabble Ground in Dover in 2019, or the St. Teresa’s Close estate in Ashford, which was once a cricket ground where Kent Second XI played in the 1930s.

All in all the photographs are a joy. Peter Francis has captured all the grounds, or the places where the grounds once existed quite superbly, and the selection of historical photos and scorecards from Howard’s vast collection are a treasure trove of memories. Whether it is the Kent side coming out to field in 1913, the original Maidstone pavilion in 1877 or Dalby Square in Margate today, where once there was a ground, they all add to the detail and the celebratory mood of the book.

As you would expect from any book in which Howard Milton is involved, there are detailed statistics for each ground, telling us, for example, that four of the ground records for the St. Lawrence Ground were set in the 19th century and still stand, and that W.G. Grace holds the record for the highest individual score both there and at the Bat and Ball Ground in Gravesend. The chapter on the Mote at Maidstone recalls Mohammad Sami’s destruction of Nottinghamshire in 2003, a match I remember well, and the Old County Ground at West Malling gives the authors the chance to relive Fuller Pilch’s benefit match in 1839, when Kent beat All England by just two runs. Like Wisden, it is the kind of book that you can’t just read for ten minutes and then put down. One photo leads to another, one match reminds you of another, and after two or three hours you wonder where the day has gone. Lucky we are all on lockdown for a few more days.

I will at this rather late stage declare an interest, in that Howard and Peter are both committee members of the Kent Cricket Heritage Trust, and the Trust, along with the Supporters’ Club and the County Cricket Club itself, have helped to finance the production of this book and we have been involved with it (if words of encouragement from the sidelines can be described as ‘involved’) from the beginning. But in this 150th year of Kent County Cricket Club’s existence, when thanks to Covid-19 we have not had much chance to celebrate, I am very proud to have played a very small part in the publication of this book, which is a thoroughly worthy commemoration of the club and its heritage.

Kent County Cricket Grounds, 150 Years of Cricket Across The Garden of England, by Howard Milton with Peter Francis, published by Kent County Cricket Club, £25, available from the club shop