\u201cIt\u2019s just a bit of history I think that should be shared and someone else can appreciate it,\u201d John Doyle told the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to share that with other people and obviously there\u2019s collectors and there\u2019s people out there that like that sort of thing and I\u2019m hoping that they can either display it or just enjoy it more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s while Sachin Tendulkar scored his first test ton in the second test in Manchester.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Part of this collection was on loan to the Wellington Cricket Museum when NZ was hosting the World Cup in 2015.<\/p>\n
John Doyle said his favourite piece of the collection is an autographed print of the Robert James\u2019 Tossing for Innings painting, signed by members of the Australian team who toured Ireland in 1993.<\/p>\n
Some items from Nancy Doyle’s cricket collection.<\/p>\n
Nancy Doyle, from Mullingar in Ireland, started as a casual working at Lord\u2019s before working her way up the ranks.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them were all given to her personally,\u201d John Doyle said. \u201cI think she even got some stuff for her birthday sent from the teams, that\u2019s how much they seemed to enjoy what she did for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doyle said he\u2019s excited to see where the items end up and hopes others will cherish them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the history, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes they would, the 12th man might pop upstairs after they\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think she set out to have a collection, it was just something that she liked to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The listings went up on October 20 and close on November 3. <\/p>\n