Zee Media Bureau/Liji Varghese
New Delhi: Google on Thursday honoured legendary English cricketer John Wisden on his 187th birth anniversary with a doodle on its homepage. The cricketer is best known for the eponymous Wisden Cricketers` Almanack - often referred to as Wisden or colloquially as `the Bible of Cricket`.
The search engine giant used the distinctive front cover font of the cricket reference book against the famous primrose yellow background that has been used on every edition since 1938. The letter `L` of the word GOOGLE has been replaced with the famous woodcut of two cricketers, by Eric Ravilious, which regularly appeared on covers of the Almanack up until 2003.
Born on 5 September 1826 in Brighton, Wisden made his debut for Sussex at the age of 18. A combative cricketing all-rounder, he was also called `The Little Wonder`. He has played 187 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex, but is best known for launching the eponymous Wisden Cricketers` Almanack in 1864, the year after he retired from first-class cricket.
The cricket reference book has appeared every year since, with Wisden 2013 being the 150th edition.
The cricketing legend died of cancer, aged 57, in the flat above his Cranbourn Street shop, London.
