The MCC Cricket Coaching Book

The MCC Cricket Coaching Book (Third Edition in Original Illustrated Dust Jacket)

The Marylebone Cricket Club's Orthodox Manual of Batting, Bowling and Fielding, in Its Revised Third Edition

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The MCC Cricket Coaching Book
• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1962
• ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
• Edition Details: Third Edition, reprinted 1972. Revised and enlarged edition of the Marylebone Cricket Club's coaching manual.
• Binding: Publisher's dark cloth hardcover with gilt lettering to the spine, in a printed dust jacket with red and yellow diagonal stripes.
• Physical Format: Small octavo. Illustrated with line drawings.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The dark grey/black cloth boards are clean and square, with sharp corners and no visible marks. The spine is gilt-lettered. The boards are protected by the dust jacket, which is described below.
• Interior: The text pages are clean, cream-coloured and tight, with a line illustration to the page examined. The endpapers are clean. No markings are visible in the pages seen.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The printed striped jacket shows a small chip or tear to the lower edge of the front panel, light rubbing and edge wear to the spine ends, a small dark spot near the foot of the spine, light soiling to the white panels and a small mark to the top left of the back panel. It is protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

The MCC Cricket Coaching Book, published by William Heinemann in London, is the manual of cricket skills produced by the Marylebone Cricket Club. First issued in 1952, it set out the traditional approach to batting, bowling and fielding. This is the revised and enlarged third edition of 1962, reprinted in 1972.

The book works through the basics of the game with clear line drawings, including the bowling action broken down into numbered positions. Its press reviews, printed on the back of the jacket, praise it as a standard work for coaches, schools and players.

Its influence outlasted its editions. It remained in print through several revisions until it was superseded in 1994 by MCC Masterclass: The New MCC Coaching Book, and to this day cricketers speak of the MCC coaching manual as shorthand for orthodox technique. A useful, collectible copy for the cricket library, complete with its original striped jacket.

Author Profile: Marylebone Cricket Club and Harry Altham

The book is credited to the Marylebone Cricket Club, the custodian of the Laws of Cricket. Harry Altham is named as the author of the first edition of 1952.

Harry Surtees Altham (1888-1965) was an English first-class cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. He was a schoolmaster at Winchester College for over thirty years and served on the MCC Committee from 1941 until his death. As a historian he is best known for A History of Cricket, which appeared in four editions between 1926 and 1962, and he also wrote the official history of Hampshire County Cricket Club.

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