There can be few authors who can claim to have had their work favourably reviewed vt that doyen of cricket writers, the late John Arlott OBE (1914-1991) but Billy Platt, who has published 22 books (nineteen on North West of Ireland cricket, two on North West of Ireland hockey and one on Derry City Football Club) over the past fifty years can point to that quality of endorsement for his books on his sporting passions.

Billy Platt was born in Londonderry and cricket came as naturally to his family as it does in many other sports-minded families. His uncles Angus and Raymond Platt were outstanding cricketers at the City of Derry club while Billy made his first impact as a player in 1957 as a member of the successful Foyle College 1st XI and the City of Derry CC Boys team that became the first boys team to win both the North West Boys League and Cup titles. In 1957 he also made his debut with the City of Derry 1st XI.

In his last year at Foyle (1960) he captained the school team and then smoothly moved into the City of Derry senior XI where he was to be a regular opening bat for a further eleven years as well as captaining the club in 1965.

Billy's first three books - North West Senior Cricket 1888-1968, The Greatest Years in North West Cricket 1919-1941 and Cricket in the North West 1943-1963 - and all the later cricket publications are standard reference works and "musts" for the collection of any serious follower of the sport in the North West of Ireland and further afield.

The record of cricket played in the North West of Ireland from 1919 to 1941 covered in the second book published in 1976 earned Billy a mention in Wisden, the cricketer's Bible, when John Arlott commended his record as unique, because little was documented of the game in Ireland, especially in the North West of Ireland. It was Arlott's observation that the book ended in "mid-air" that inspired Billy to get to work on histhird volume which brought the record up to 1963. This led subsequently to the publication of a further sixteen cricket books to date. The latest, History of Strabane Cricket Club 1859-2017, was published in August 2018.

The series of nineteen articles that has been published here on CricketEurope were drawn from Billy's books and to read these colourful descriptions of the feats of various players and clubs in bygone years is a tribute to the progress of the game in the North West of Ireland over a long number of years.