Robert William Brooke (5 May 1940 – 15 May 2025) was an English cricket writer who published more than 20 books about the game, including those referred to in the bibliography below.

Life and career

Born in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

, Brooke attended school in

Dorridge Dorridge is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), England. Historically part of the historic county of Warwickshire, the village is encompassed within the electoral ward of Dorridge and Hockley He ...

and Yardley Grammar School in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. He was a longtime

Warwickshire CCC Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Founded in 1882, the club held minor status unt ...

member who served as the club's honorary

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

for several years. He was also active in MCC,

the Cricket Society The Cricket Society is a charitable organisation founded in 1945 as the Society of Cricket Statisticians at Great Scotland Yard, London. It has grown steadily to be the largest body of its kind in the cricket world. The Cricket Society now has ov ...

and the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

(ACS), of which he was the co-founder in 1973. Brooke was the ACS chairman from 1973 to 1979, remained on the committee until 1986 and was the editor of the ACS journal, the ''Cricket Statistician'', from 1973 to 1985. He was elected as an Honorary Life Member of the ACS in 1987. He was named as 'Statistician of the Year' for 1989 and for 2011. As of 2003, he was the

statistician A statistician is a person who works with Theory, theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private sector, private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, a ...

and obituarist of ''

The Cricketer ''The Cricketer'' is a monthly English cricket magazine providing writing and photography from international, county, club and schools cricket. Overview The magazine was founded in 1921 by Sir Pelham Warner, an ex-England captain turned cric ...

''. Some of his articles for that publication can be found on ''

Cricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

'' within their player profiles. Brooke died on 15 May 2025, at the age of 85.

Bibliography

*''Warwickshire Cricketers 1843-1973'', Association of Cricket Statisticians, 1973. *''Warwickshire Cricket Record Book'', Association of Cricket Statisticians, 1982. * '' John Edward Shilton's Book'', Association of Cricket Statisticians, 1984. *''Who's Who of English First Class Cricket, 1945-84'', Collins Willow, 1985, *''Cricket Firsts'' (with Peter Matthews),

Guinness World Records Limited ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

, 1988, *''Cricket Grounds of Warwickshire'', Association of Cricket Statisticians (Grounds Series), 1989. *''Who's Who of Warwickshire County Cricket Club'' (with David Goodyear), Robert Hale Ltd, 1989, *''A Who's Who of Worcestershire County Cricket Club'' (with David Goodyear), Robert Hale, 1990, *''A History of the County Cricket Championship'', Gullane Children's Books, 1991, *''Who's Who of Lancashire County Cricket Club, 1865-1990'' (with David Goodyear), Breedon Books, 1991, *''

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

First Class Records, 1894-1993'', Limlow Books Ltd, 1994, *''Warwickshire County Cricket Club (100 Greats)'', NPI Media Group, 2001, *''Middlesex CCC (100 Greats)'', NPI Media Group, 2003, *''F.R.Foster: The Fields Were Sudden Bare (Lives in Cricket)'', Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians, 2011,

Notes

Sources

* Brooke, R. (1984) ''John Edward Shilton's Book'', Association of Cricket Statisticians, Haughton Mill, Nottinghamshire. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Robert 1940 births 2025 deaths Cricket writers Cricket statisticians