AS a young newshound employed by the Abergavenny Chronicle in the 1950s and 1960s, DON CHAMBERS spent many a lazy sun-soaked day at Avenue Road, armed with his trusty notebook and pen to dutifully record for posterity the fortunes and fates of Abergavenny Cricket Club.

Never one 'stumped' for a few words to add the necessary meat and bone to his recollections of halcyon days long gone when the sound of leather and willow rocked his world, the 'old hack' and regular Chronicle contributor agreed to 'run' with his own verdict on a new book to mark the 175th anniversary of Abergavenny CC.

HISTORY is old hat? Dull, boring, past its sell-by date? Seen it, heard it, don't want a rehashed version served up as the Real Deal?

Or, on the other hand, is it an opportunity to have another and more leisurely stroll through past eras and remind yourself of what you once loved or loathed?

Rather like cricket, in fact. Too slow, stops altogether when the weather breaks and why play in whites that soon get dirty and mothers get annoyed at spending so much time washing them?

Or is cricket a game for real gentlemen, honour and sportsmanship and keeping a straight bat?

"Abergavenny Cricket Club - a Celebration of 175 years 1834-2009", edited by Paul Sussex and Ryland Wallace, packs titilating facts alongside well-known names and history in just 30 pages. On a library bookshelf, it would come under Sport, Cricket, Easy Reading.

Ryland, using a scatter-gun approach in his 'From Mansions and Meadows to County Cricket Venue' chapter, concedes that 1834 was "certainly not the beginnings of cricket locally." The first known match in the Abergavenny area was in 1819 on a lawn adjoining "the hospitable mansion of Cwrt-y-Gollen".

With travel difficult before the railways, the club played few matches in the early years. When they did, it was on rough and uneven surfaces that made cricket dangerous.

In one match, Ryland tells us, an umpire died after being struck behind the ear by the ball. Team totals were often as low as 50, but some matches "finished up with a heavy dinner," while a good deal of betting was involved.

The wicket would often be the only mown area and the outfield would be "lush, thick grass and other

obstructions."

Throughout the first 60 years of their life, Abergavenny CC didn't have a permanent home, often playing in Priory Meadow, later named Bailey Park, and even Castle Meadows.

One of the highlights of this lovely, compact book is "A Tour through the Post War Archives", from 1946, through "my" years in the 1950s and 1960s, to the present time.

The importance of Abergavenny Cricket Club to the local community is emphasised in the book by David Morgan, former chairman of Glamorgan CC, who describes the club as "the bedrock on which our great game is played."

To prove the point, I still remember the time when I was sitting in the balcony at the Coliseum cinema when someone whispered urgently to me from a row or two in front that an Abergavenny batsman had that very day scored a century at Hereford. He thought I should be informed even before the film ended.

Local businessman Charles Price once called at the office to complain about my epithet for his son Jeremy as The Prince of Swipe due to his liking for hitting sixes. I was ordered to be more restrained in future.

A few years ago on a crowded market-day Tuesday, this lanky figure with "gingerish" hair loped towards me, stared and stuck out his hand. It was Colin Nash, on whom I had not set eyes for very many years.

It is often said in journalism that names make news, and it is so with this book: Tommy Adams, Lew White, Bob Jennings, Brian Shackleton, Colin and Malcolm Nash, Bill Macpherson, Jeremy Price and umpire Cliff Cox. I even spotted in a 1934 team picture my old King Henry V111 Grammar School Latin teacher, Harold "Acker" Sharpe.

Twelve years later, the club moved to Avenue Road. The club had 265 members, of whom 65 were players.

In another picture, I spotted the name Nazir Ali. If my memory is up to the task, I recall asking captain Brian Shackleton who the new player was and he gave me that name.

The following week, I was approached by "Nazir Ali" who said he had read my report from the previous week, but was disappointed that I had spelt his name incorrectly.

I apologised, and asked him to spell it out for me. So now you all know he is Nasir Ali Khan Quizzlebash.