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15 attendance, the numbers being slightly increased after lunch.” Surrey Mirror, Tuesday 16 May 1905 The experiment – if that is what it was – of playing a second eleven fixture at an out-ground away from the metropolitan area was evidently deemed a success, although in financial terms it was not lucrative. 13 The continuing pressures on The Oval led to Surrey repeating the venture for the next three seasons, with Reigate used in all three years: clearly it had not blotted its copybook over this period. As noted, by the end of the 1908 season grounds at Epsom and Guildford had also been used for Second Eleven matches, but when towards the end of that year the club was looking for an out-venue for the following season’s first-class match against Oxford University, Reigate Priory CC had evidently retained its primacy. There was perhaps one other factor in the confirmation of Reigate as the venue for the Oxford University match. Nearby Gatton Park was the home of Sir Jeremiah Colman, since 1885 the head of the Colman’s mustard family. During his lifetime, Sir Jeremiah held numerous positions of power, both inside and outside cricket. As Wisden said, he had cricket in his blood, and applied “close interest and unflagging zeal” to the game. He became a member of the Surrey CCC Committee, and was President of the club from 1916 until 1922, and thereafter an enthusiastic Vice-President. He was also a friend of Reigate Priory CC, and was the club’s President from 1909 until his death in 1942. Far be it from me to suggest that the choice of Reigate for the Oxford match was directly influenced by him or his presence in very senior Surrey circles, but - like the proximity of the Leveson Gower seat - it surely can’t have done any harm to Reigate’s chances. Reigate: Anticipation and preparation The coming of first-class cricket to Reigate does not appear to have raised great excitement in the local area. There is no mention of the fixture in the Reigate-based local newspaper, the Surrey Mirror , at any time in the last three months of 1908 when it was being arranged and confirmed, nor in early 1909 after the publication of the season’s fixture list in Wisden . The earliest local reference that I have traced came in mid-April, when the Mirror ’s columnist ‘Sportsman’ included this in his preview of Surrey’s forthcoming season: “My readers will be pleased to learn that the home engagement with the Dark Blues will be decided at Reigate, the exigencies of the programme being such that it will be decided simultaneously with the Lancashire contest at the Oval”. Cricket Prospects by ‘Sportsman’ in the Surrey Mirror, 13 April 1909 The local press then again fell silent on the subject until the eve of the match; of which more anon. But as might be expected, excitement was greater at Reigate Priory CC. At 13 Figures of receipts for the 1905 match against Yorkshire II are unfortunately not available, but they are unlikely to have been much different from those for the following season’s Second XI match against Lancashire II at Reigate, gate receipts for which were £7-9s-3d. Assuming an entry charge of 3d, this indicates a paying attendance over the two days of just under 600 non-club- members. Surrey in 1909