Benjamin Disraeli's assertion that there are "lies, damned lies and statistics" would not be welcomed by that august body, the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Members of the association spend hour upon hour poring over old scorecards and reference books to make sure that the game's statistical history is kept in good order.

From time to time, one of those members will come up with another volume in the series of "Famous Cricketers" – a collection that has now grown to 62 in total with the recent additions of Wes Hall and Ken Barrington.

Anyone who has encountered one of the other 60 volumes will be familiar with the format. A brief factual introduction to the subject is followed by a carefully compiled season-by-season, innings-by-innings record of the subject's career before the most detailed statistical breakdown of the career as a whole.

Ken Barrington's career was dissected, with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel, by Jerry Lodge, an ACS committee member, a Surrey CCC member, and a retired member of the insurance broking business. This is his third contribution to the series and it is not difficult to gauge the esteem in which he holds his subject.

The same can be said of Keith Sandiford who has compiled the facts and figures about Wes Hall. The author was, for over 30 years, Professor of History at the University of Manitoba in Canada, having been born in Barbados in 1936. He has contributed widely to cricket's literature, including "The Cricket Nurseries of Colonial Barbados" and "Cricket and the Victorians."

The 49 pages on Wes Hall cost £5.50, while the 68 pages relating to Ken Barrington are available at £7.50, both from the ACS online shop at: ACS Shop

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