Scarborough Cricket Festival, 1930's

by Edward Keyes

Weather permitting, half-crown entrance fee
ushers in hours of joy from noon til six,
quintessence of late summer Scarborough spell.

Unflappable Sutcliffe, not a hair out of place,
dourness of Wyatt, unyielding at crowd's taunts,
guileful curl and twist of Verity's arm.

Out-of-the-ground six from Hendren. Afternoon, band's
musical medley and frequent exits to the beer tent,
raucous voice of little man peddling score cards...

  Early each September
  nostalgia wakes
  in an expatriate Yorkshireman
  for golden days
  sixty years gone.