Gillette Cup Final 1969

Once we'd recovered from the adrenalin rush that was the victory over Sussex, our attention turned to our opposition in the final.

It turned out to be Yorkshire, who clinically disposed of Nottinghamshire in the semi-final at Scarborough thanks to solid innings from Phil Sharpe and Doug Padgett taking them to 191. Garfield Sobers returned the astonishing figures of 12-8-12-1 but was not at his best with the bat, something Nottinghamshire needed if they were to post a challenging total. Although future Derbyshire skipper Brian Bolus and Cornishman Mike Harris gave them a solid start, they were always behind the rate and Sobers came in at 52-3 with a lot to do.

Although he pushed up the rate a little, Chris Old had him caught behind by Jimmy Binks and from then on the innings declined from 89-3 to 123 all out.

So Yorkshire it was, and sadly we couldn't go down for the final as Dad just couldn't get away from work. I was settled in my favourite seat in the house to watch the final, which was live on BBC (those were the days!) Admittedly, there was frustration later in the day as Grandstand took over coverage and the cricket switched with numerous other sports, with increasing attention being given to the football (the final took place on September 6th).

Yorkshire were put in to bat by Derek Morgan who won the toss and we sat back to watch the wickets tumble. After all, Geoff Boycott had been ruled out of the Yorkshire side and we weren't too worried by Barry Leadbetter and John Woodford. They put on 37 before Peter Eyre removed the latter, which brought in Brian Close. He and his younger partner built the score and the scoring rate until Close was very well caught by Mike Page as he was really opening up. Unfortunately, Page injured his shoulder in taking the catch and was pretty much a passenger for the rest of the game. Although Phil Sharpe, another future Derbyshire player went quickly, Padgett and Leadbetter raised the 150 and we saw the game slipping away. Although not a high score, 150 seemed a mountain for our batting and when the Yorkshire innings closed on 219-8, thanks to some late order hitting from Richard Hutton, we knew we were up against it. The bowlers stuck well to their task, although Peter Eyre followed his semi-final heroics with 1-53 as the most expensive bowler.

Maybe if Gibbs and Smith gave us a start we could still do it? They did, but against Chris Old and especially the underrated Tony Nicholson it was slow work. With the score on 37, the latter removed Peter Gibbs en route to figures of 1-14 in 12 overs. With Mike Page injured, Derek Morgan came in at 3 but, fine cricketer that he was, fast scoring was not his game and he was soon run out. According to Dad, the alarm bells were ringing when Alan Ward came in at four in an attempt to raise the scoring rate. David Smith went at 54, but Ward and Ian Buxton mounted a partnership and struck a few lusty blows. The scoring rate was still below par, however, and Ward went at 77. When John Harvey, another capable of some powerful shots, went at 83, we were resigned to defeat.

Page came in at number seven and did his best but was clearly incapacitated. Once Ian Buxton holed out to Brian Close off the bowling of Don Wilson we knew that the end was in sight, and the innings ended with five overs to spare, Close and Wilson taking three wickets each.

A 69-run defeat was not part of the script we had in our heads (it saw us bowling them out for 85 then knocking off the runs in the evening sunlight) but we had at least been there. What we didn't know was that it would be a number of years before we were next to compete in a big final at Lords.

And next time we would be there...