Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

28 exceptions, had generally had a representative in the county eleven. He recalled the days of Caffyn. 35 Now they had a cricketer who perhaps some of those present might think exceeded Caffyn, and who certainly was Caffyn’s equal – Mr W W Read (applause) who was able to go away on his campaign in a distant land and by the care he had always taken of his health, to show a bold front to the cricketers there. He hoped that for many years to come they would have the pleasure and honour of owning Mr Read as one of the champion players of England and they were all proud to think he belonged to that old town of Reigate. 36 By the time of the 1884 Annual General Meeting it had become clear that the county had no intention of honouring their half-promise to play a fixture at Reigate and there were suggestions that, if not the ‘week’, then certainly the dinner might be discontinued on the grounds of the expense and the fact that, apart from the President and the Treasurer, it was largely unpatronised by the Surrey Club. Read, now in the county rather than the club camp, amid some objections, put what he perceived to be the county’s pragmatic, practical and pecuniary viewpoint, though he was at pains to emphasise, he was not speaking ‘officially’. The Committee were most anxious that a county match should be played at Reigate; their chief reason for declining was that they feared such an act would establish a precedent which would be taken advantage of by Guildford, Dorking and other large towns. That naturally would involve a great pecuniary loss on matches played away from the Oval; and the County Club felt they were perfectly justified in refusing the application. 37 Dorking never did materialise, though he was presciently correct about Guildford which became a Surrey outground in 1938 and, apart from the war years, remained its principal one until 2003 when Whitgift School was added to a very short list of first-class venues in Surrey. Sponsorship has cushioned the cost of playing away from The Oval. Whether that will continue as recession and depression begin to bite is a matter for speculation. Certainly the trend among counties is now not to take cricket to an increasingly 35 William Caffyn (1828 -1919), professional cricketer, one of the leading batsmen of his time, born and bred in Reigate and a cousin of Read. 36 Reigate, Redhill, Dorking and Epsom Journa l 7 August 1883 37 Reigate, Redhill, Dorking and Epsom Journal 12 April 1884 Reigate Priory