Tony Kingston: Long-serving Northamptonshire scorer steps down after 32 years
- Published
Tony Kingston first went to the County Ground to watch football, but cricket soon became a lifelong passion
Northamptonshire scorer Tony Kingston prided himself on never missing a single ball - so how did Take That play a part in depriving him of a morning's play?
He accompanied the team physio to a concert by the band in Cardiff, while down in south Wales for a game against Glamorgan, but slipped over outside on his return to the hotel.
"I think I'd have still been there but for David Lucas, a left-arm bowler we had at the time, and his wife - they called an ambulance and I was admitted to hospital.
"Next day I had a scan on my head to see if there was any brain damage and there wasn't, so they let me go but I missed the first session, 32 overs," he tells BBC Radio Northampton.
In all, Tony believes he missed only 66 overs in 32 seasons as scorer until being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 - and apart from Take That, the only thing to deprive him of an entire session was his sister's funeral.
This summer, though, he will be absent from the scorer's seat at Wantage Road as his ongoing health issues have prompted his decision to retire from the role.
He first attended a cricket match at the County Ground - which the club shared with Northampton Town FC - 75 years ago, but his hopes of watching arguably the greatest batter of all time came to nothing.
"In June 1948 the Australians came and I so wanted to see this man named Don Bradman," Kingston said.
"As bad luck would have it, he left himself out of the team when they played Northants and put Lindsay Hassett in charge of the team so I didn't see him."
In the 1980s Kingston was enlisted to help revive the county colts team and serve as umpire, before taking on the job of scorer in 1990.
It was a busy period for the team, who reached four Lord's finals in seven years - and won the Natwest Trophy in 1992.
"It was as if I had a season ticket," said Tony, who unsurprisingly regards the home of cricket as his favourite ground apart from Wantage Road.
Northamptonshire batter Allan Lamb scored more than 32,500 first-class runs and hit 14 Test hundreds for England
Asked to name the most exciting player he has seen - he has no hesitation in choosing one of of Northamptonshire's own.
"It's got to be Allan Lamb. It wasn't so much the number of runs he scored, it was the rate he scored them at. You didn't realise the scoreboard was ticking over. He would score so quickly that he would give our bowlers time to bowl the opposition out," he explained.
Lamb hit 115 off 121 balls, including 21 fours, in the match Tony regards as the most memorable of his scoring career - against Nottinghamshire in 1995.
"Nottinghamshire batted first and scored over 500. You'd think you'd be pretty safe if you scored that number, but Northants went in and four of them scored a hundred - [Alan] Fordham, Lamb, [Rob] Bailey and [Russell] Warren - and declared on 781-7.
"We put Notts in again, we had a bowler called Anil Kumble and bowled them out [for 157] and they lost by an innings. It was a fantastic game," said Tony.
Lamb, now 68, has also been affected by prostate cancer and the pair have spoken on the subject.
"I do urge all the men when they get to 50 to have their PSA [prostate-specific antigen test] checked. I didn't even know you had a PSA to check to be truthful [when I was diagnosed]," said Tony.
Despite stepping down as scorer, and having good days and bad, he has no intention of staying away from Wantage Road this summer.
"I've got the tickets ready and I have a car park pass," he added.
Tony Kingston was speaking to BBC Radio Northampton's Annabel Amos.