“It’s just a bit of history I think that should be shared and someone else can appreciate it,” John Doyle told the Herald.
“I just want to share that with other people and obviously there’s collectors and there’s people out there that like that sort of thing and I’m hoping that they can either display it or just enjoy it more than anything else.”
One of the most prized items is a bat signed by the England and India players from their famous three-test series in 1990 when Graham Gooch scored 333 in the first innings at Lord’s while Sachin Tendulkar scored his first test ton in the second test in Manchester.
Some of the bats are also signed by former New Zealand teams, including one from the 1994 team which is dedicated to Nancy Doyle and has the signature of Martin Crowe, while another from 1978 has the autograph of Sir Richard Hadlee among others.
Part of this collection was on loan to the Wellington Cricket Museum when NZ was hosting the World Cup in 2015.
John Doyle said his favourite piece of the collection is an autographed print of the Robert James’ Tossing for Innings painting, signed by members of the Australian team who toured Ireland in 1993.
Some items from Nancy Doyle’s cricket collection.
Nancy Doyle, from Mullingar in Ireland, started as a casual working at Lord’s before working her way up the ranks.
During the peak, more than 100 meals would be served during the day and during her time, which would be given to celebrities with the players, who she became very well respected by.
“A lot of them were all given to her personally,” John Doyle said. “I think she even got some stuff for her birthday sent from the teams, that’s how much they seemed to enjoy what she did for them.”
Doyle said he’s excited to see where the items end up and hopes others will cherish them.
“It’s about a little Irish lass that went off to do a job and was very good at the job and she loved it, she enjoyed it,” he said.
“It’s the history, it’s just the way she got on with people and they had no issues with oh, can I, can you sign this for me? They just did.
“Sometimes they would, the 12th man might pop upstairs after they’d finished and some of the older bats people used to save for her and they got them cleaned up and gave to her so she could get them signed.
“I don’t think she set out to have a collection, it was just something that she liked to do.”
The listings went up on October 20 and close on November 3.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.