Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/87

64 of sufficient means to be able to stand the expense, or else, not being of sufficient means, he must have his expenses paid. Thirty years ago, there would hardly have been found an amateur who would have gone through the hard work and grind of such a season, and in those days expenses were not paid to any calling themselves amateurs. Here is another stage of development which I for one cannot pretend to say I either like or consider wholesome. I will deal with this subject in another chapter, but in writing of county cricket it is necessary to mention it.

It follows from what I have said that the most successful counties are, and must be, those in which large gate-money is the rule; the sinews of war for a county are not native cricketers, but money, money, money! Surrey, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Middlesex—these are the four counties which prosper, in the same way as in football it is Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool, and Manchester.

The bright side of this picture is that the cricket is of first-rate quality. There is a chance for every really good cricketer to find some