Surrey are mourning the loss of Keith Booth, aged 81. He was the first team scorer for 23 seasons and alongside wife Jennifer was part of a formidable double act which involved teaming up when the Kia Oval staged international matches. Richard Spiller explains his contribution
Keith Booth’s term as Surrey scorer – from 1995 to 2017 – occupied a revolutionary period for that indispensable profession.
When he took charge, in 1995, events on the field were still largely recorded using pen and ink in leatherbound scorebooks. By the time he retired, 22 years later, laptops reigned supreme although many practitioners still keep a note in case of a power cut or machine failure.
While some of Booth’s counterparts resisted the change – or were unable to cope with it – he was able to manage the greatest transition since runs and wickets were logged by making notches on sticks, even if he could be critical of some aspects of the process.
With the thoroughness which was his hallmark, Booth studied the history of scoring for one of the many books he wrote on cricket. Knowing The Score (Past, present and future of cricket scoring) explained the progress, applying the contexts of the game’s history and social background while including details of how scorers came close to striking at one stage.
Hailing from the Barnsley area, Booth never lost his distinctive Yorkshire accent and his native county fed a love of the game throughout his life, enjoying all aspects of cricket and the teamwork alongside players, umpires and administrators.
Adam Hollioake, Surrey captain from 1997-2003, underlined his team’s respect for their scorer: “The players will always take the headlines during any success achieved on the field but behind every team is always a great back room and Boothy was integral to ours.
“I will never forget his bravery at approaching me after every session with the same smiling face to tell me that we were down on our over-rate yet again.
“I can’t imagine that would have been an easy job as I wasn’t the most gracious at receiving bad news during that time.
“We will all miss your positive demeanour and outlook on life. Rest easy fellow Brown Cap.”
Keith Medlycott, head coach from 1998-2003 and a fellow member of Sutton CC, added: “Boothy brought a calmness and consistency, a wonderfully dry sense of humour and the ability to keep his captains calm when reminding them that the over-rates were down again – no mean feat! He was just a wonderful man.”
Alec Stewart – one of those captains and now director of cricket – agreed: “It’s never easy for the scorer to pass on things like bowling figures or over-rates when you’ve had a bad day.
“Boothy was accepted as part of the dressing room, with all the leg-pulling which comes your way. It says a lot about him that he was included in the WhatsApp group of ex-players. He was a Yorkie at heart but he was one of us as well.”
University administration was Booth’s profession before he turned full time to scoring, working with Middlesex and MCC and scoring for Test Match Special on England’s tour of 1994. While in Trinidad, on a day off, he was practicing his bowling. The former Indian off-spinner turned Test umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan spotted him from a hotel window and suggested a slight improvement he could make, advice he appreciated and utilised.
It said much about Booth’s enthusiasm for the game that he played to an advanced age at Sutton, enjoying the company of much younger team-mates and eager to fill in at the last minute if a county game finished early. As scorer, umpire, secretary, committee member and much respected vice-president, he was greatly valued by the Cheam Road club.
Booth turned his experiences on that West Indies tour into his first book – Atherton’s Progress – and there were to be several more. One of them – George Lohmann, Pioneer Professional – about the Surrey and England all-rounder of the late 19th century, won the Cricket Society’s book of the year prize in 2008. The citation, that it was “scholarly and lovingly told” could equally apply to those he wrote about Edward Pooley, Charles Alcock, Ernie Hayes, Walter Read, Tom Richardson, Jack Crawford and the Haywards. Together they form a unique contribution to the county’s history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much research was done by Jennifer, who had been an archivist at the Tate Gallery.
Keith and Jennifer were a remarkable partnership, detailing the achievements of the first and second teams and if he was not involved in a match then it was no surprise to see him helping out by operating the scoreboard. Between them, they had scored more than 150 international matches by the time they declared.
Parents of two daughters, they enjoyed the slower pace of retirement – which came in 2017, having both been made honorary life members – and particularly relished watch Surrey win a Championship match at Scarborough in 2018. Losing Jennifer two years later was a particularly hard blow for Keith. He continued to visit The Oval, despite uncertain health, but suffered a serious downturn last year.
As a county scorer, Booth believed that encouraging newcomers was an essential aspect of his role, so it is no surprise that many are now feeling the loss of their father figure.
