If there were a contender for Bathurst's very own 'Mr Cricket', only one name would be worthy of the title: Warwick Franks.
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For his many years of dedication to cricket as a player and, more notably, as an author and editor documenting the game, Mr Franks has been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal [OAM].
It's a title that has come very unexpectedly for Mr Franks, but he said it's a great honour to be acknowledged.
"I'm proud that my contributions have been a positive addition to Australian cricket: a sport that is very conscious of its history and traditions," he said.
"Cricket is a game that is as much about statistics as it is historical significance, with the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, first published in 1864, predating the first official Test cricket matches in 1877."
Mr Franks has been heavily involved with Wisden's Australian operations throughout the years, serving as executive editor of the print edition between 2001 and 2004, and as a researcher of obituaries on former Australian Test cricketers since 2012.
He has also made a series of statistical and historical contributions regarding cricket to Oxford University Press and the Sydney Cricket and Sportsground Trust, and has been called upon by the likes of the Sydney Cricket Ground Museum, Cricinfo and The Sydney Morning Herald to offer his expert knowledge on Australian cricket history.
Mr Franks can recall Australian cricketing history to a degree only few can, from the more significant moments to the more obscure statistical titbits of intrigue.
"In the late 1920s, there were two chaps selected for an Ashes series in Australia- Bert Ironmonger and Don Blackie- who made their Test debuts at the age of 46, something you won't see ever again as the game has changed so much," he said.
"There was a Sheffield Shield match between Queensland and Victoria a few years later where a dismissal read 'caught Blackie, bowled Ironmonger': the combined age of bowler and fieldsman was 101 [and a half] years old."
Mr Franks has also been involved with cricket locally as a former president of the Bathurst District Cricket Association and player with a host of local clubs.
His interest in cricketing history has seen Mr Franks come into contact with some of the legends of the game, including Richie Benaud, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and one of Bathurst's proudest sons: former Australian captain Brian Booth, who played in the 1960s.
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