There is one man and one man alone who, on match days, is the link between the action on The Rose Bowl pitch and the outside world. Anthony Weld (Tony to his friends) is Hampshire’s First XI scorer and it is down to his pinpoint accuracy that the scoreboards at the ground – and the scorecards that appear on the various cricket websites – are kept bang up to date every ball.

I have to admit to being rather in awe of the venerable Mr Weld when I first met him at the beginning of the 2009 season. I would creep into The Rose Bowl scorers’ box at the end of every session, wait while he printed off my score sheet, then run back to the media centre to check the match report. It was only at Headingley, during the last game of the season, that I got to know him and discovered that he was a kindly gentleman with a wealth of cricketing knowledge, keen to share and confirm information. Which was how I ended up sipping tea in his living room on a wet November afternoon, and listening to the fascinating story of this lifelong Hampshire fan.

“I used to go down to the United Services Ground to watch Hampshire play when I was a boy. I found a way to get in without paying! I used to be given half a crown, which was the bus fare down to Portsmouth, a shilling to get in, tuppence for a card and sixpence to spend. They were so slack down there, if you just waited until the man on the gate turned his head you could walk around the back of his little hut and a lot of us youngsters used to do that. I saw Phil Mead play, John Arnold and all those.

“I started playing myself when I joined the army – I didn’t play much before that – and it was at that time I had my first visit to Headingley. During the war the area around Leeds was a big transit camp for troops going abroad and we came up on the train in December ’44 and they took us off to our lodgings . Everything about location was secret in those days. They gave us ten minutes before we had to fall in and they marched us down the road to the mess hall and we went in through these big gates in the pitch black, but it was a clear night and as I looked up I saw this great big scoreboard and I realised it was Headingley. Right down underneath where we were sitting just a few weeks ago [in the press box in the grandstand] was a great big mess hall! I never went there again until ’84 when I was scoring for the West Indies.”

On Tony’s living room walls are pictures of the international teams he has had the pleasure of scoring for during their tours of England. “The first international I did was in 1983 at Northlands Road – Australia v Zimbabwe in the World Cup. In the following year I was appointed to do the West Indies tour when they came over here. I did all their England tours up to ’95, but in 2000 I declined because they only wanted me to do the computer and I thought it was a waste of a summer!” Tony also scored for Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand, culminating his international career by scoring for Australia in the 2001 Ashes.

But how did Tony start scoring in the first place? “From ’73 to ’82 I was Second XI umpire, and in ’83 they wanted a scorer for the Second XI. So I took it on and I’ve been here ever since. I’d been umpiring a pre-season friendly and the coach Peter Sainsbury mentioned they needed a scorer. I came home and mentioned it to my wife and said I might have a go at it, because it would keep me in the game longer than umpiring.” Tony was right – he scored for the Seconds until he officially moved to the First XI at the start of the 2006 season, and he has no intention of quitting yet.

Obviously when Tony started the scoring was all done with paper and pen, but now the whole system is highly computerised. “I think the computers first came in about ’90 or ’91, but the firm that provided them went to the wall so the next season we were back on books again. Then the following year PA [the Press Association] came in and we’ve been with them ever since.”

I have stood in the scorers’ box and watched Tony tap in the details of every ball, and seen the results pop up on the various cricket websites, but was keen to understand what happens to the information in between. “You set up the game, with all the players’ details, the weather and so on and so forth, and then you phone them for a match number.” Tony told me. “Then all the data goes up the line to the Press Association and they distribute it to whoever wants to buy it. It’s that simple really. Except when something goes wrong and they phone and ask you to reboot in the middle of a game; that just isn’t on – particularly in the one day stuff – but I’ve been pretty lucky this season – I’ve had more trouble with my printer than anything! But all the equipment goes back to PA at the end of the season to be serviced and upgraded so hopefully it will be better next year.

“I take out any data I might need and put it onto my own computer. I have print outs of all the games but I keep the averages and career records on my laptop. From time to time the management wants some information so it’s good to have it to hand. I keep a score book too – not all the Counties use score books but we do, and when they’re completed and I’ve checked them they go up to the public library at Winchester.”

The technology may have moved on, but scoring for Twenty20 games has provided its own challenges – especially as Tony needs to keep both the computer and the book up to date as he goes along. “The players are sitting on the boundary waiting to go in, and to do it all properly you need two minutes at each wicket. But you get by. I use abbreviations, and as long as I remember what they mean when I write it up afterwards it’s alright!”

Tony works home and away with Hampshire, so the visiting team always provide a scorer too, and I had noticed them checking the scores with each other fairly frequently. Presumably there is a lot of co-operation. “Well that depends on who you’re working with – some of them are very good and some never open their mouths which is very hard going. I won’t mention any names, of course, but some will check at the end of every over with you, which is fine. Others just say good morning and goodbye!”

“It’s quite a nice job to get when you retire” Tony reflects. “If you’re interested in the game and you’re prepared to give the time, and you do need the time; I haven’t seen next season’s fixtures, but they’re going to be very congested again. I don’t know how the players manage it – I was tired at the end of the season, and I wasn’t running around the field!”

 

Back to news

• Share
• Email
• Print