SAVILE SCIENCE – THE SCIENCE and EVOLUTION OF CRICKET. PAUL SMITH IN CONVERSATION WITH JON HOTTEN.

“A Shipton ct Smith b Hotten 19  (Authors XI v Walmer CC, Kent 2019)”

Cricket fundamentally is a simple game played between Bat, Ball & Field. As the game evolved and expanded in the early Victorian era, players and cricket lovers liked to believe it to be a game rooted in scientific principles Felix on the Bat (1845): Being a Scientific Inquiry into the Use of The Cricket BAT was the cricketing coaching manual of its time; for the batsman perhaps rather than the bowler!

Over the subsequent 180 years the balance between Bat and Ball has evolved. Jon and I explore scientifically and psychologically how the critical balance between Bat and Ball has been maintained including discussing Being Geoffrey Boycott…and the Future of Test Cricket.

Jon Hotten is the author of seven books, including The Meaning of Cricket, Bat Ball & Field and Being Geoffrey Boycott. He co-wrote the documentary Death of a Gentleman, about the future of Test cricket, and has contributed to Wisden Almanack, and many other publications about the game.

Paul Smith is a genetic scientist involved with the technological development of DNA sequencing technology as part of the Human Genome Project. Paul was involved with the Covid Vaccine development and more recently in Cancer mRNA Vaccines trials with the NHS.

On the field he continues to play for the Cricketers Club of London, the  BBC Bushman and very occasionally when invited the Authors XI. Off the field he is a member of the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) and has written cricketing articles including discovering the first cricketing photographs taken at Lord’s in 1859 published in the  MCC Magazine. Paul has conducted primary research to support a number of cricketing books published over the last 20 years including Sir John Major’s book ‘More Than A Game – The Story of Cricket’s Early Years’.