RONALD CARDWELL is an insolvency practitioner with a lifelong interest in sport. When his playing days were finished he commenced writing and publishing books on cricket. His company, The Cricket Publishing Company, has published 25 books. This year he has co-written, firstly with eminent NZ writer Bill Francis, the well-received The Team That Never Played- Wahine and the 1968 Otago University Cricket Team and the centenary history of the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association with David Jenkins titled No Dazzling Deeds with Bat or Ball and It’s Not About Me – The Brian Taber Story, both with David Jenkins. He is currently working on three cricket books that will be published in the next 12 months. He is also a Trustee of the New Zealand Cricketers Hardship Trust and a VicePresident of the Australian Cricket Society in Sydney, which he founded in 1972. He is married with four daughters.
RODNEY CAVALIER was born in Sydney, New South Wales and has always had an interest in cricket. Whilst never achieving great heights as a player he has contributed to the game in many ways. Following school at Putney and Fort Street Boys’ High School he graduated from Sydney University and moved into the world of politics. In 1978 he was elected as a Labor member of the NSW Parliament and served later as a minister in the portfolios of Energy, Finance and Education. Following 10 years in parliament he worked in a number of government-appointed positions befitting his capacities and interests. He is an avid book collector, especially of those on cricket. In 2010 he wrote a well-researched book Power Crisis: The Self Destruction of a State Labor Party. A further book, Bronzed: The Basil Sellers SCG Sports Sculptures Project, was penned by Cavalier in 2013. He is currently chairman of The Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust. He was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia in 2004.
MIKE COWARD is one of Australia’s most experienced and travelled cricket writers and commentators. Formerly the chief cricket writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Advertiser, Adelaide, and a long-time columnist for The Australian, he has covered the game throughout the world since 1972. An accomplished public speaker and emcee, he has broadcast the game on radio and television, and written, ghosted or edited 12 cricket books. He was interviewer for each of the eight programs in ABC television’s renowned Cricket History Series and is overseeing the establishment of a unique archival interview presentation at the Bradman International Cricket Hall of Fame at Bowral. His books include Cricket Beyond the Bazaar (1990), Australia vs the new South Africa (1994), The Baggy Green- The pride, passion and history of Australia’s sporting icon (2oo8 with Michael Fahey) and A Century of Achievement- The Players and People of the St George DCC (2010). His latest book, Champions (2013), showcases aspects of the interview archive from the International Cricket Hall of Fame. Due out in January 2015 is a book put together by Coward, The Bradman Museum’s World of Cricket, a stunning visual celebration of cricket from three of the world’s outstanding photographers together with slides taken by Sir Donald Bradman.
BILL FRANCIS has spent nearly so years in New Zealand broadcasting, initially as a sports editor, journalist and commentator before moving into management, where he led the hugely successful Newstalk ZB as well as Radio Sport. Recently retiring as a director of New Zealand Cricket, he is currently Chief Executive of the Radio Broadcasters Association of New Zealand. Francis is also the author of eight books, his last three having a cricket theme: Leader in a Thousand, a biography of Tom Lowry, the first New Zealand Test captain, Sir John Graham – Sportsman and Educator, The Team That Never Played – Wahine and the 1968 Otago University Cricket Team and Cricket’s Mystery Man – The Story of Gordon Smith – West Indies, MCC and New Zealand. He lives in Auckland and is married to Mary. They have three married children and five grandsons.
MICHAEL GANDY has a lifelong partnership with cricket as a player, umpire, administrator, writer and historian. He is president of the Seniors Cricket Tasmania and a director on the Cricket Tasmania Board where he serves as chairman of Premier Grade cricket and the Cricket Museum. He was an inaugural member of the ACS in Adelaide in 1988 where he was president for 15 years. He is also the editor of Break o’Day, the monthly journal of ACS Tasmania. Mike is one of a rare breed of cricketers who have both played and umpired at a first-class level in Australia.
GREG GROWDEN was for more than three decades a senior sportswriter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He spent many summers covering cricket for the SMH, and has written 12 books. These include A Wayward Genius – a biography of Les ‘Chuck’ Fleetwood-Smith, rated by renown British writer Frank Keating among the 100 best sporting books of the 20th century. He is also the author of Jack Fingleton – The man who stood up to Bradman and Wallaby Warrior – The war diaries of Tom Richards. He was the SMH and Herald’s chief rugby union correspondent between 1987 and 2012, covering hundreds of Test matches, more that 20 Wallaby tours and every World Cup tournament. He is now rugby expert for ESPN and scrum.com. His latest book, Bowled by a Bullet – The Tragic Life of Claude Tozer, will be published in December 2014. He rates his biggest claim to fame as being the only sportswriter to have the main race at Wentworth Park greyhound meeting named after him.
GIDEON HAIGH is an English-born Australian author and journalist, regarded by many in the world of cricket as the foremost writer on the game. He currently writes for The Australian and The Times as well as contributing to numerous journals on sport and business matters. Haigh has written 29 books, 19 on cricket, and has edited a further seven cricket books, many of which have received Australian and international awards. His books The Cricket War (1993) and The Summer Game (1997) are regarded as classics of cricket literature. His latest, On Warne, has received wide acclaim. Life away from writing sees Haigh spending time with his wife Charlotte and young daughter Cecilia, the South Yarra CC and his cat Trumper.
MURRAY HEDGCOCK remains Australian at heart, despite living in London for half a century. Born in South Melbourne, he completed a cadetship on the The Geelong Advertiser before heading for England at the age of 21 in hope (eventually dashed) of seeing Hassett’s Australians hold the Ashes. Back in Australia, he joined The News in Adelaide, and was posted to the News Limited London Bureau in 1966, becoming bureau chief, but writing cricket for The Australian whenever possible, before early retirement in 1991. He has contributed to Wisden, Wisden Cricket Monthly, The Cricket International, The Times and other publications. A Wodehouse enthusiast, he compiled in 1997 a study of the author’s love of cricketing companionship of his London-borne daughter Georgia, who is loyal to England as he is to Australia. He is currently working on a book about Major Rowland Bowen.
ALFRED JAMES OAM has long had an interest in minor cricket and has written several books on the subject. These include The ‘Don’ vs The Rest, the scorecards of 351 minor matched played by Sir Donald Bradman, the Centenary History of the NSW Districts Cricket Associations and Sunday Extras, an account of over 200 supplementary or ‘fill up’ matched played by Australian teams overseas and by teams visiting Australia. His other books include Much Writing, Many Opinions, and a centenary history of The Royal Australia Historical Society. Alf has two postgraduate degrees in classics from The University of Sydney where he worked as a senior administrator. He played senior cricket for exactly 50 years in Hornsby Kuring-gai and Hills District Association of which he was president for 23 years. His latest book, Substitute Players for English Cricket Teams in Australia since 1861-62, is due out in December 2014.
DAVID JENKINS was born in Adelaide, South Australia and played cricket and Australian Rules for his schools, Brighton Primary and Brighton High. Upon leaving school, he moved into the computer industry, working for Chrysler/Mitsubishi Corporation, after which he transferred to Sydney where he worked for finance companies and banks. He recently returned to Adelaide after residing in Sydney for 27 years. His interests include collecting cricket books, following the Australian cricket scene and writing about the game. He is a regular writer for the Roar. He penned a book on his boyhood hero Gavin Stevens and another on the Victorian batsman Ken Eastwood and is a co-author of a recent book on the history of the NSW Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association titled No Dazzling Deeds with Bat or Ball. David is currently working a biography of Eric Freeman.
GEOFFREY LAWSON was born in the New South Wales country town of Wagga Wagga. He played grade cricket for the University of NSW (1976-1992), graduating in 1983 with a Bachelor of Optometry. In the 1977-78 season he was selected for New South Wales as a right-arm fast bowler. He continued to serve New South Wales with distinction as a player untili991-1992, as captain (1988-1992) and then coach (1995-1997). In 1979 he was a replacement for the Australian tour oflndia and subsequently made seven tours with Australian teams. His 46-match Test career (1980-1989) yielded 180 wickets at 30.56. Since retirement he has written for The Sydney Morning Herald and cricket magazines and commentated for the ABC and – Sports. Lawson coached the Pakistan national side between 2007 and 2009 and is currently the New South Wales fast bowling coach. In 1993 he wrote a book titled Henry: The Geoff Lawson Story. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 1991.
PETER LLOYD was born in the Blue Mountains playing backyard cricket with his younger brothers and catching steam trains to Sydney to watch Sheffield Shield matches at the SCG. His heroes then were Norm O’Neill, Brian Booth and – even though he was a Queenslander – Peter Burge. Now retired after 20-plus years of international cricket public health development in countries as disparate as Mongolia, India, Indonesia and East Timor, Peter has time to devote to his great passion – collection and reading cricket books. (His currently tally is around the 4000 mark.) His latest goal is to collect all books listed in Charles Britton’s 1929 publication 100 Best Cricket Books. He has a Masters Degree in Health Management and a PhD in the social history of medicine.
GREG MANNING has taught literature at the Townsville campus of James Cook University since 1989. He grew up in Newcastle, New South Wales, where he played his cricket and completed undergraduate study, before postgraduate study at the University of Sydney. After 24 years away, in matters cricket and football he continues to support New South Wales. His occasional writings on cricket have appeared in Wisden Australia, Meanjin Quarterly and The Oxford Book of Australian Essays. He collects cricket books and reads widely on the game.
BERNADETTE MAHONY is a retired primary school teacher with an interest in family history. She has written and self-published family histories for distribution among family and friends. Her history of the local area, Kangaloon Footprints, alerted her to the Bradman connection to many of the local people and places. She became aware of stories about Don Bradman not cricket-based and stories of his sisters, Lillian and May, and brother Victor. At Rodney Cavalier’s suggestion, she took up the challenge of looking at depth into the Don’s story beyond Kangaloon and beyond the surname Bradman.
HEATH MILLS gained a Bachelor of Physical Education from the University of Otago and a Diploma of Teaching from the Dunedin College of Education, before teaching at Mt Albert Grammar School in Auckland for seven years, including a one-year sabbatical teaching in the United Kingdom. He played cricket for the Howick-Pakuranga Club in Auckland and is the elder brother of New Zealand international Kyle Mills. Heath was the driving force behind the establishment of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association (NZCPA) in 2001 and has been Chief Executive since its inception. He also sits on the Board of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) and is a Director of the New Zealand Athletes’ Federation which brings together all Player Associations in New Zealand, is Chairman of the New Zealand Hockey Players’ Association and negotiated their first Memorandum of Undertaking with Hockey New Zealand. He lives in Clevedon with his wife Julanne and their three children, Ashley, Tayla and Jordan.
KEVIN PYE is a retired schoolteacher living in Mudgee who can trace his family back to the early 1800s in the district. The country life is in his blood, giving him much material for his writings. Kevin played cricket after school with Western Suburbs CC in Sydney whilst training at teachers college. Upon returning to Mudgee he continued his cricket, gaining selection in the Western Districts team. He later took up umpiring and achieved recognitions as the leading umpire in country areas of New South Wales. He was appointed to numerous country representative matches agains local and overseas teams. He has won many awards for his poetry and lyrics which has seen numerous volumes of the popular bush poet being published.
CRAIG REECE has been the First XI scorer for Hawthorn Cricket Club, having commenced with Hawthorn-East Melbourne CC, since 1977, but debuted with First XI in 1975. He has also been a member of Cricket Victoria’s panel of Interstate and International scorers since 1980 and has scored first-class cricket in Britain. He has written and published four limited edition cricket books and will release next February his fifth book, concerning cricketing soldiers of World War I. This will be followed later next year a biography of a former cricketer.
RICK SMITH is a retired high school teacher regarded as one of Australia’s foremost cricket historians. Born in Tasmania, he played A grade cricket in Launceston. He is an avid collector of cricket memorabilia, especially photographs and cricket books, and has written or co-written 18 books, notably the biographies of Sid Barnes, HV Hordern and Blighted Lives – The Story of Harry and Albert Trott, which won The Australian Cricket Society Literary Award in 2010-2011. He is married to Leanne and they have one son, David.
DAVID STUDHAM has worked at the the Melbourne Cricket Club Library since January 1994 and was appointed MCC Librarian in April 1997, leading a team of staff and volunteers that enabled the library to become arguably the best sports library in the world.
BERNARD WHIMPRESS, a noted and well-respected Australian sports historian and author, has been writing and publishing on sport, in particular cricket, since 1983. Whimpress lives in Adelaide and holds a doctorate in history from Flinders University. He is currently working as a freelance writer, consultant and editor, and lectures in sports journalism at the University of South Australia. He is the former curator of the Adelaide Oval Museum and edited and published the Australian cricket journal Baggy Green from 1998 to 2010. His 23 books include Adelaide Oval Test Cricket 1884-1984 (1984 with Nigel Hart), Passport to Nowhere (1999), Chuckers: A History of Throwing in Australian Cricket (2002 and 2004) and The Official MCC Ashes Treasurers (2009, 2010 and 2013).
KEN WILLIAMS is a retired secondary school teacher and world-renowned cricket cricket statistician, historian and authority on Melbourne club cricket. A volunteer worker at the Melbourne Cricket Club Library for the past 18 years, he has contributed regularly to many of the Club’s publications, particularly The Yorker magazine. He is one of four co-authors of First Class Cricketers in Australia, the first volume of which is scheduled for release in 2015.