Tony Kingston: Longtime Northamptonshire goalscorer quits after 32 years

He accompanied the team physio to a band concert in Cardiff, while in South Wales for a match against Glamorgan, but slipped out on return to hotel.

"I think I would have gone again but for David Lucas, a left arm bowler, we had at the time, and his wife - they called an ambulance and I was admitted to hospital.

"Next day I had a scan on my head to see if there was any brain damage and there was none, so they told me let go but I missed the first session, 32 overs," he told BBC Radio Northampton.

In all, Tony believes he missed just 66 overs in 32 seasons as a goalscorer until he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 - and aside from Take That, the only thing that deprived him of an entire session was his sister's funeral.

This summer, however, he will be away from the scorer's headquarters at Wantage Road as his continuing health issues have forced him into retirement.

He first attended a cricket match at the County Ground - which the club shared with Northampton Town FC - 75 years ago, but his hopes of seeing arguably the biggest drummer of all time collapsed.

"In June 1948 the Aussies came and I wanted so badly see this man named Don Bradman," Kingston said.

< p class="" data-reactid=".7ph8mu6lv6.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-9">"Unfortunately, he opted out of the team when they played Northants and put Lindsay Hassett in charge of the team so I didn't see him."

In the 1980s, Kingston was drafted in to help revive the County Foals team and serve as a referee, before assuming the goalscoring position in 1990.

It was a busy time for the team, which reached four Lord finals in seven years - and won the Natwest Trophy in 1992 .

"It was like I had a subscription," said Tony, who without surprise, considers the birthplace of cricket his favorite ground off Wantage Road.

Asked to name the most exciting player that he saw - he doesn't hesitate to choose one in Northamptonshire.

"It must be Allan Lamb. It wasn't so much the number of points he scored as the rate at which he scored them. You didn't realize the dashboard was spinning. He was scoring so fast that he was giving our bowlers time to eliminate the opponent," he explained.