The birth of Wisden Cricket Monthly

Wisden takes on The Cricketer – a magazine war begins

Every magazine needs a rival to push it to greater heights.

Shoot! had Match Weekly

Smash Hits had Number One

In cricket, The Cricketer had little serious competition in the UK once it absorbed Playfair Cricket Monthly in 1973.

David Frith, the esteemed cricket writer and historian, had been editor of The Cricketer from March 1973 until it was announced in the August 1978 issue that he had left in order to ‘concentrate on freelance work’.

Less than a year later, Frith reappeared as editor of newcomer Wisden Cricket Monthly.

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ushered in the 1979 season with its 116th edition, but the brand had decided the time was right to become more than a one-trick pony.

Launching in the early weeks of an English summer featuring the second Prudential World Cup - and following on from two Australian seasons dominated by Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket – great change was afoot in cricket and WCM was going to chronicle it in vibrant technicolour.

Limited-overs cricket, coloured clothing, the increased commercialism of the game and a dominant West Indian side were four of the main talking points at the start of WCM’s life and would remain so throughout the next decade.

WCM’s Introduction proffered a desire to ‘appeal to young and old’ and the greater use of colour imagery helped the new magazine to stand-out from its established rival.

An editorial team accompanying Frith that comprised John Arlott, Ted Dexter, Jim Laker, David Gower, Bob Willis and photographer Patrick Eager was a heavyweight line-up.      

Dexter’s opening column pondered ‘Will Brearley quit while ahead’, with the former England captain suggesting the current man in charge may step down at the end of the summer. As it turned out, the Middlesex man stuck it out for an inauspicious trip Down Under in 1979-80.

Bob Willis predicted an ‘Aussie revival’ was on its way, following England’s 5-1 series rout of the hosts a few months’ earlier. With the likely return to the fold of the WSC contingent - as well as impressive showings from some of the younger players despite the Ashes debacle – that was always going to be a fairly likely outcome. So it was, England found the going much tougher the following winter, losing the Test series 3-0.

WCM’s willingness to embrace, and cover, WSC – in terms of the actual cricket rather than the political ramifications – was far greater than The Cricketer, evidenced by a comprehensive review of the ‘Supertests’ played in the Caribbean in February and March 1979. Those four games proved to be a feisty affair on and off the field, with the second match abandoned as a result of a crowd disturbance.

A ‘Picture Gallery’ section – starting off with three sepia-toned images from bygone Ashes series – established WCM was keen to acknowledge the past as well as the future, more dynamic, path that awaited cricket in the next decade.

Frith used his Australian connections extensively to inform UK readers of the latest machinations Down Under – particularly important with the great sea-change occurring. 

All in all, it was a highly-sophisticated debut issue from the pretender to the throne.

The Cricketer wasn't going to take matters lying down, however, and they had already issued a rallying cry in the May 1979 issue - ahead of the WCM launch - extolling its longevity, position as the ‘best-selling magazine of its kind’ and harbouring a desire to maintain that ranking. 

By July 1979, the gloves were well and truly off.

The Cricketer emphasised its standing on page five, proclaiming it ‘enjoys the confidence of its readers and advertisers’ with an average circulation figure of 36,630 between January and December 1978.

On the other hand, WCM revealed on page 14 of the August 1979 issue that it was ‘now the world’s top-selling cricket monthly, with sales well in excess of 40,000…’.

Certainly, a little bit of competition was doing no harm to either side as both publications were determined to serve their readers well as the Eighties hove into view…

A story to be continued…