The Twelfth Man 2019

Features to many. Strange incidents like swarms of greenfly and ladybirds or the North Marine Road sound system picking up a nearby funer- al service are stories too good not to discuss; some of the best tales came from supporters who have been coming to Scarborough over decades. Most waxed lyrical about the Festival but one gentleman re- called seeing the Australians in the Sixties as a young lad. He wasn’t entirely enamoured with sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches, surrounded by men in suits puffing away on cigarettes! I’ve tried to give a sense of cricket at Scarborough and what the Fes- tival means to so many. Naturally, that leads on to its current health and what the future holds. To do that with any sense of credibility has been to sit down with those at Scarborough Cricket Club and Yorkshire County Cricket Club to understand more. We live in interesting times. The advent of the new city-based com- petition, The Hundred, looms large in 2020 and that offers both op- portunity and cause for concern for out-grounds like Scarborough. There may be more 50-over cricket available, though its downgraded status doesn’t help anyone. There is certainly a will to make the Fes- tival longer but it might not remain in August. **** With Kane Williamson unveil- ing some majestic shots in the Worcestershire match last year, I grabbed a seat with groundsman John Dodds to hear his life in crick- et and the way the wicket at North Marine Road has evolved over the years. Many a time, I have joined supporters at lunch or tea to gaze quizzically at the cordoned off square. It teaches me little but I am drawn there for the sense of communal observation and depart feeling satisfied. Speaking of the intervals at Scar- borough, its inclusiveness contin- ues to be one of its defining qual- ities. There can be no better sight than the ground awash with fami- lies playing cricket, friends taking a stroll and county players limbering up for the next act. I lost count of the number of people who told me that their love for cricket be- gan with a game on the outfield at Scarborough. The proximity to the action, the absence of barriers and the ability to get on the actual playing surface are all subtle but important in their own way. *** If we were to consider milestones at the Festival, the loss of the tra- ditional MCC game, its contraction from a fortnight to a sole County Championship match or its former accolade as the grand finale for touring sides could all be raised. The record County Championship crowds that flock to North Ma- rine Road are an understandable source of pride but to dip back in time to the 1950s or later still is to have witnessed tens of thousands crammed into every available inch of space. The Scarborough Crick- et Festival isn’t the same as it used to be. Indeed, many pull a face like sucking a sherbet lemon at the no- tion it’s now a Festival at all. Yet, it’s still the envy of many counties and something to be supported and cherished. In one chapter focussed around the press box, I’ve also chosen to look at a more recent event where journalist David Hopps berated the condition of the cricket ground in an article. It precipitated an up- grade in facilities and the renam- ing of the press box toilet as the Hopps Inn! To understand the allure of Scar- borough is to hear stories from all sides whether that’s scorer John Potter reminiscing about the Northern Electric Trophy between Yorkshire and Durham or Kevin Sharp on breaking into the York- shire first team as a teenager. It’s being outside the tea room, a brew on the go and a slab of cake for company revelling in that un- interrupted view across to the pavilion. Or sat on the wooden benches watching kids with minia- ture bats queue for autographs at the boundary edge. Or listening to the murmur of conversations rise and fall, like the frothing North Sea tides a short walk away. Cricket at Scarborough is to put life’s worries on pause and I can pay it no finer compliment than that. *Last of the Summer Wickets, Tales from the Scarborough Cricket Festi- val by John Fuller is reviewed in our book review section. WHAT MAKES COUNTRY CRICKET AT SCARBOROUGH SO SPECIAL? The Yorkshire Post Cricket Correspondent, James Maurice Kilburn, summed it up perfectly in a much-quoted snap- shot: ‘First-class cricket on holiday’. It’s a deep sense of relaxation, allied with retention of tradition that refuses to be swept away in our age of tweets.