Derbyshire v Sussex 1969

The Gillette Cup Semi Final. Now THAT was one day cricket.

It was my first "big" cricket match. I'd seen Derbyshire on several occasions, but it was usually a first or third day of a game at Chesterfield, Ilkeston, Derby or Buxton where either a result wasn't going to take place or (in most cases) quickly became a foregone conclusion (usually when we batted).

When we reached the semi final after our first decent one-day cup run, Dad was keen that we got there and managed to get hold of tickets. I remember not sleeping much the previous night with excitement, but also worry because there was a lot of rain and the game could have been off. Dad's shift at the pit allowed us to get along OK and I was around the middle of the summer holidays.

On the day we got into Dad's old Ford Anglia and left our house to get to Chesterfield. We left early, but the crowd was huge even at 10 o'clock. I'd never seen so many people at a cricket match and we only got near the boundary edge because an elderly couple squeezed up to let us in (there's merit to being a very small kid, which I was at that time!).

Everyone wondered whether the game would start on time after all the rain, but thanks to the efforts of the groundstaff it did. We sat pretty much across from the scoreboard and when the news came that Derbyshire were to bat, those around us felt we were going to struggle. Rightly so when you looked at the Sussex attack. England bowler John Snow was the spearhead, with future England skipper and talented young all-rounder Tony Greig in support, together with the Buss brothers, Mike and Tony, source of a thousand jokes. "Get on your bike, Buss", "They always come along in twos" - oh how we laughed...

There was great applause as the Derbyshire openers made their way down the steps of the old pavilion. Apparently there were 10,582 at Chesterfield that day, but there as as much noise as the usually bigger Baseball Ground crowd produced. The ground was still wet, after all that rain, but Derbyshire began steadily. Peter Gibbs always looked like he had more time than most and was a classy-looking player, while David Smith was solid, more functional, a Yorshireman who usually had to be dug out. It was warm and sunny but someone reckoned that the water had got under the covers and that the wicket might play up a little.

34 runs were on the board before Smith was caught and bowled by first-change bowler Mike Buss. "If 'e'd have dropped it we could've called him Blunderbuss" said Dad. Mike Page came in, arguably our best, fastest scoring batsman. Some reckoned that he may have been in the England frame with a more fashionable county, but today was not his day. He and Gibbs made a mess of a run and Page ended up on his hands and knees, slipping on the damp turf and out by a distance. Ian Buxton stayed for a while but never looked comfortable and when Gibbs was caught in the deep at 68 and Buxton soon followed, we were in trouble.

John Harvey and Derek Morgan added 25 in 45 minutes but it was "nudge and fudge" cricket, this was not a day for expansive shots. When Harvey was ou, the rest came and went with monotonous regularity. Only Derek Morgan stayed for long and when he lost his last partner, Harold Rhodes, he had made a very slow unbeaten 26. He had also endured a lot of barracking from some who had taken time off work to see what they felt was yet another poor batting display. 136 all out in a 60 over match. No chance from here. Or was there?

After the sandwiches had all been eaten and the queue at the toilets safely navigated, Sussex came out to start their reply. Alan Ward (pictured) downhill from the pavilion end, the fastest bowler in the country. He bowled a no ball but with his fourth ball he took Les Lenham's leg stump (he apparently played on, not that we could tell). There were no more runs until the sixth over when the battling Kenny Suttle edged Harold Rhodes for four. It was extraordinary with 10,000 people being completely quiet as the bowlers ran in. Ward came in again and bowled the runless Graham Cooper, 5-2!

After fourteen overs, Derek Morgan made a double bowling change with the score a mere 10-2. Rhodes had only conceded the edged four in 42 balls of sustained accuracy. Fred Rumsey and Peter Eyre came on and the rotund Rumsey bowled Suttle almost immediately. 12-3. Jim Parks was having his own troubles and was joined by the aggressive Tony Greig, but after taking the score to 27 Eyre had the South African caught by David Smith and then Rumsey bowled the dangerous captain, Mike Griffith for a duck. At 28-5 we couldn't believe it, but when Derek Morgan took a sharp catch above his head to remove Parks it started to look like our day. Their top six were all back in the pavilion for just 29 runs. Peter Eyre swept through the tail with the assistance of two catches from Bob Taylor and the final wicket went down with just 49 runs on the board. It is worth noting the bowling figures that day:

Alan Ward - 8-5-11-2

Harold Rhodes 7-6-4-0

Fred Rumsey 9-3-13-2

Peter Eyre 10.2-4-18-6

Ian Buxton 1-0-1-0

Even at a time when there were far fewer cars on the road, getting away from Queens Park that evening was a nightmare, but it was worth every minute. For an eleven year old lad, it sealed his interest in the game and eternal optimism that there's no such thing as a lost cause...