BEYOND THE BOUNDARY with John Riley: Cricket greats bowled over by North Marine Road
We have a marvellous cricketing heritage which needs to be enhanced and preserved and no less a person than our current president, Sir Geoffrey Boycott OBE, gives a succinct appraisal of the club and its links with the town.
The Yorkshire legend said “As a young boy my parents took my two brothers and I to Scarborough every year. It was the highlight of every summer as we went paddling in the sea, making sand castles, collecting shells and riding on the donkeys.
"Takeaway fish and chips in a newspaper for tea and then the bus home. Great days. Wonderful memories. Later as a young man I played League cricket at Scarborough for Barnsley and Leeds and it was a thrill. Facing Bill Foord and Geoff Dennis was tough but watching Ted Lester and Ken Stockwell score numerous runs was an education.
"Then playing for Yorkshire 1st team at Scarborough was a dream and a delight. Super pitch with the ball coming onto the bat so you could play your strokes and a bit in it for the bowlers. Plus, Yorkshire usually won!
"Once the sea came in at lunch the popular side filled up, kids played cricket on the outfield at the lunch and tea interval and the ground was full. Fantastic atmosphere. I scored 12 first-class centuries at North Marine Road and I can remember them all.
“I hope future children and grown-ups can get the same pleasure as I had from visiting a super seaside town and its iconic cricket club.”
Even a famous Red Rose and England player, David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd!, is able to give the correct answer when he is frequently asked about his favourite cricketing venue.
Lloyd said: “I’m always being asked what is my favourite cricket ground in the whole world and you can tell they want me to say Old Trafford, the MCG, Sydney, Adelaide, Barbados or Lord’s but Scarborough is the best ground ever!
"I played in those Festival matches all those years ago and it has made a lasting impression. David Bairstow would lead the charge. A pint in the Albert, then fish n’ chips and later back at the hotel watching Dickie Bird’s ‘Cabaret’! Go well, Scarborough CC, a place full of memories.”
On a poetic note, John Herbert in his book, ‘The Scarborough Festival’, summarises beautifully the feeling all visitors experience on their first visit to our ground, saying: “As you enter through the big iron gates, the whole spectacular arena gradually unfolds to the eye. I feel absorbed by a beckoning atmosphere, I am drawn, and drawn again, into the nave of a cricket cathedral.”
May this feeling long continue!