The John Oxley Library has been fortunate to receive the research notes and personal papers of cricket historian and statistician, Warwick Torrens.
Warwick Torrens was born in Maleny, Queensland, in 1935. He played cricket for many country clubs including Maleny, Cooroy, Noosa, Palmwoods, Maroochy, Eastern Suburbs in Brisbane and Thornlands. A shoulder injury led to his retirement from the game. His interest in the statistical and historical side of the game commenced after World War II when he began collecting information about the first class game played in Australia, especially in Queensland. In 1974, he became a member of the newly formed, English based, Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. He has written many books about the history of cricket in Queensland and was a major contributor to the publications "History of the Sheffield Shield" and the "Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket". From 1991 he was appointed as an official scorer in many inter-state matches played in Brisbane by non first class teams. In 1998 he became the internet scorer for Cricinfo in first class and other matches played in Brisbane.
The collection comprises a treasure trove of unpublished typescripts documenting the history of cricket in Queensland from its earliest days, comprehensive biographical information about Queensland cricketers, umpires and other officials, scoresheets, correspondence and several marvellous original photographs and a silk programme commemorating the Australian team's Ashes tour of England in 1930.
Australia won the 1930 Ashes series, winning two matches and losing one, while the other two tests were drawn. The captain was Bill Woodfull and the series featured the most popular Australian cricketer of the period, Don Bradman, as well as talented Queensland left hand bowler Percy Hornibrook.
The collection also features biographical information about many Queensland cricketers and historical information about various clubs.
The Warwick Torrens Collection is available at the John Oxley Library, Accession 29028, Boxes 17676-17686, 17557 O/S A3.
Lynn Meyers - Librarian, State Library of Queensland
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