New Delhi: Google on Thursday remembered John Wisden's on his 187th birth anniversary with a doodle on its homepage
Wisdon was an English cricketer who played 187 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex. He is now best known for launching the eponymous Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in 1864, the year after he retired from first-class cricket.
He was born at Brighton, on September 5, 1826. After the death of his father, he went to live with Tom Box under whose guidance Wisden's cricketing abilities soon developed. He made his debut for Sussex at 18 years of age. Nothing much is known about his early life. He is said to have been very enthusiastic and determined as a child.
He began a cricket-equipment business in Leamington Spa in 1850 and, five years later, he opened a 'cricket and cigar' shop near Leicester Square in central London. On his retirement from cricket in 1863 at the relatively early age of 37 as a result of rheumatism, Wisden started publishing his annual Cricketers' Almanack. In retirement he developed his business into a manufacturer and retailer of equipment for many sports, not just cricket.
