Lives in Cricket No 21 - Walter Read

86 his fifth decade. However, he defied the passing years and became the first player, at the age of forty-six to score a thousand runs in May. In 1866 he had played for England against Surrey. He re- mained the only surviving member of the twenty-two players that took part in that match when it was resurrected for Read’s testi- monial almost three decades later. It may seem a contradiction to have a testimonial match for an amateur player, but there had never been any pretence that Read was an amateur in any except a technical sense. In his correspondence, Charles Alcock refers to ‘Read’s benefit’, so there is no real difference between what was arranged for The Oval on 27 to 29 May and a benefit match for a professional, except that professionals did not have matches specially arranged for them. They simply took the gate, less expenses, from a county match, usually Yorkshire or Nottinghamshire. Maurice Read was allowed a Test match, a privilege later denied to George Lohmann, despite an initial promise of an Australian match. The testimonial match was well organised, well publicised and successful. Surrey and England 1888/97 The Surrey team in 1895. [Surrey County Cricket Club]