Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/86

Rh elevens, though very possibly Derbyshire might also be included. Sussex is represented by Staffordshire, Lincolnshire, India, Australia, and Nottingham; Surrey, by Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, and Nottingham; Middlesex, by Yorkshire and Australia. Truly a remarkable state of things! I have said before, however, that this strange fact in no way damps the enthusiasm of a county's supporters; crowds throng to see the matches, and the zeal of the spectators to see their side win is only equalled by the industry displayed by the Committee in scouring the country for promising professionals.

Now what about the amateur? A first-rate county plays about sixteen matches in the course of the season: no counties, if the amateur is of sufficient skill, like the amateur to be absent from any one match; they want their best eleven, and they must have it at any price! In other words, an amateur, if he wishes to back up his Committee, must give up the whole of the four months to the game as completely as a professional; it follows from this that he must be so keen himself that he is glad to play every day of the season, and either be