Howzat!

Then it's a yawning gap in knowledge of the county's history at the crease.

All that is about to change thanks to two Herefordshire cricketing enthusiasts Ken Hook and Frank Bennett who are to produce the first book on the subject since 1903. But this won't be a dry compendium of wickets and overs, who scored how many runs or found themselves leg before wicket.

Due out next spring, this will be a documentation of an aspect of county life which amounts to a fascinating social history as it charts the rise and, in many cases, fall of more than 200 clubs throughout the county.

The end of the year sees the two putting together the finishing touches of their research, which started over a year ago, originally as a project to document the region's lost cricket grounds, until they discovered a book on Herefordshire cricket by Edward Anthony, dating back to 1903.

"We realised nobody had written anything since then so we thought we'll follow on, the next 100 years," Ken explained.

But they weren't expecting just how gargantuan a task they faced. "You get talking to somebody and you find there's a cricket team and you get talking to somebody else and find there's another," Ken said. Obvious inclusions are Hereford City Sports, Ross, Leominster, Ledbury and Kington, but Ken and Frank plan to cover the social mores of the day - before there were leagues, there were clubs set up by Herefordshire's big country estates.

Frank cited Titley Court, an old manor house, whose Lord decided, in the 1890s, that he wanted his own cricket team which he sponsored and which played on his land. The club lasted (with two breaks for two world wars - very little cricket was played in those periods) until 1975 when it amalgamated with Kington.

In fact they have as many 20 clubs linked to 'big houses' in Herefordshire, when cricket was a grand social affair in which the classes mixed as masters invited masters to play and their servants would make up the teams on the pitch.

Leagues and - heaven forbid - competitions didn't start until the 1920s. "There's a lovely article in the Hereford Times with somebody moaning about the league starting in 1920, how the competitive side is going to ruin the enjoyment of the sport,"said Frank.

"We'd have a job to come to terms with it today," added Ken, noting they'd come across similar remarks during their research.

"It was a gentlemen's sport - it was the lord of the manor's team, his ground. He sponsored it and he played."

Indeed the lord "dictated terms", as Ken put it.

"We've heard a story where Clay, who owned Brockhampton, had a runner in the field. A man, Yarnold, stood behind him and when the ball went past him, Yarnold ran after it, brought it back and said: 'Here you are, Sir' and threw it in!

"To anybody who'd question it he'd say: 'You can go, it's my pitch."

Gentlemen's sport it may be but women did more than make and serve up the tea - although Frank and Ken will play tribute to that vital role -- there were women's teams as well.

The International Ladies' Cricket Association launched in Colwall and Frank and Ken have photographs of line-ups and games in play.

There's been no insight, however, into how women coped with full-length skirts when going for the runs!

Entries like this only underline Ken's insistence that they are compiling a people book not an almanac of facts and figures. There's still time to submit information. If you have anything of interest, contact Ken on 01432 279602 or Frank on 01432 354917.

There but for the Grace . . .

THE most important thing Ken and Frank have is a photograph retrieved during the demolition of a Goodrich Cricket Club pavilion. All that's known was it is not a Goodrich team but, amid the serious young men, is a hirsute individual. Is this a newly discovered photograph of one of the most famous cricketers ever ? "We believe it's WG Grace - we've checked it with other pictures of Grace, I've blown up photographs of him and we reckon it's spot on," said Frank. "He was a Gloucestershire man and did play a lot of cricket on the Gloucestershire border.

"We know he played at Whitchurch in 1866 against a Herefordshire 22 and there's rumours he played at Weston-under-Penyard so there's a very good chance it's him."

Frank and Ken are trying to verify the player's identity and if anybody else could shed light on it, they'd be happy to hear from them.

Frank Bennett and Ken Hook who are writing a book on Herefordshire cricket.