As Derbyshire County Cricket Club celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2020, we have asked the Club Heritage Officer, Photographer and Statistician, David Griffin, to write a series of articles covering some of the county’s greatest moments and players.
The series will include accounts of the 1936 County Championship-winning season, the 1981 NatWest Trophy-winning campaign, as well as the triumphs of 1990, 1993 and 2012 in the RAL Sunday League, the Benson and Hedges Cup, and the County Championship Second Division, respectively.
Also, there will be a focus on Derbyshire’s England Test Cricketers, their finest batsmen, bowlers and wicketkeepers, and a feature looking at Derbyshire’s overseas players.
Finally, with a rich history of playing at a multitude of home venues, there will be an article covering the history of Derbyshire grounds.
In this third article in the series he recalls that momentous sporting summer of 1981 when Derbyshire won the NatWest Trophy.
England won the Ashes in dramatic fashion in 1981 with Ian Botham to the fore, and elsewhere in sport Borg and McEnroe were still facing each other down across the net in tennis, Sugar Ray Leonard defeated Thomas Hearns in Las Vegas to secure the boxing World Welterweight crown, Torvill and Dean became World Ice Dancing champions, Liverpool beat Real Madrid to win the European Cup and Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe were trading world records on the track.
And from a social perspective, July of that year saw the high profile marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer as, meanwhile, many cities burned in the face of the worst rioting for decades.
Meanwhile, at Derbyshire County Cricket Club, there was relative stability on and off the field. The drawings for the new pavilion had been presented to members and funding was in place with a start date pencilled-in for the end of the season.
The playing staff welcomed just one newcomer – Dallas Moir, a 6’ 8” slow left arm bowler who had played for Scotland in the Benson and Hedges Cup tournament in 1980.
Otherwise, there was a familiarity about the regular first team side; Geoff Miller, the captain when the season began, Mike Hendrick, Alan Hill, Bob Taylor and Colin Tunnicliffe were all well-established (three of them were England Test cricketers), as were the two young overseas cricketers, Peter Kirsten and John Wright. Added to them were the two signings from 1979 and 1980 respectively, David Steele and Barry Wood, plus two young and highly promising players in Kim Barnett and Paul Newman.
Indeed, that eleven would lift the trophy at Lord’s in September, with only Steve Oldham (two appearances) and Tony Borrington (one) playing during the campaign when regulars were injured.
Knock-out cricket had been something of a challenge for Derbyshire since the first Gillette Cup took place in 1963. They reached the 1969 Gillette final following a remarkable semi-final against Sussex at Chesterfield when Peter Eyre took 6-18 in front of a crowd estimated at in excess of 10,000. A strong Yorkshire side defeated them at Lord’s, and they had to wait until 1978 for another appearance in a final.
This time it was an Eddie Barlow-driven side which punched above its weight to win all 4 group games in the Benson and Hedges Cup and then defeat Middlesex and Warwickshire in the knockout stages.
In truth, the side which lost that final to a very strong Kent team was probably not quite ready to win a trophy, a point acknowledged by Barlow in his post-match interview. But the seeds had been sown; a cricketing revolution had begun at Derbyshire and there was a sense that silverware was within their grasp.
The county reached the semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup again in 1979 and lost a game they had in the bag – to Surrey – after requiring 46 runs from 19 overs with eight wickets. Peter Kirsten was not out on 70 when tea was taken but nerves appeared to take hold after the break as Derbyshire subsided to a six-run defeat.
David Steele had ostensibly been signed as Barlow’s replacement; a top order batsman who bowled, and Barry Wood’s arrival meant that in addition to the locally produced cricketers, plus two fine overseas stars, Derbyshire also had two additional players with vast experience in the domestic game.
Wood, in particular, with one run of 6 trophies in six seasons with Lancashire, could bat anywhere in the order, and bowled medium pace deliveries which bamboozled the best batsmen.
Considered to be past his best when he arrived at Derbyshire, he still had much to offer.
As was the norm in the Gillette Cup, the newly and grandly-named knockout competition – The National Westminster Bank Trophy – began with Minor Counties sides taking on county teams. However, this was only Derbyshire’s second game against a Minor County, the criterion for the draw in the Gillette/NatWest based upon where the county side finished in the championship in the previous season. The higher the finish, the better the chance of avoiding the banana skin tie.
In that first game, at Ilkeston in 1976, Lincolnshire had meandered to 125-7 off 60 overs before the home side knocked the runs off in 34 overs, Barlow top-scoring with 55.
From that match, just the three England stars, Miller, Hendrick and Taylor remained in Derbyshire’s regular XI as Derbyshire looked forward to their opening fixture against Suffolk on 11 July 1981.
The Derbyshire County Cricket Supporters Club coach set off at 6am for the long trip to Bury St Edmunds where they were met with a damp outfield following heavy overnight rain. Derbyshire were invited to bat first on a soft pitch with an expectation that the ball would misbehave under overcast skies.
Derbyshire’s team was Wright, Wood, Kirsten, Steele, Miller, Hill, Barnett, Tunnicliffe, Taylor, Oldham and Hendrick.
Wood went with the score on 15 before Wright and Kirsten added 99 for the second wicket. They batted with relative caution – sensibly, it appeared in the circumstances – but when they were both out in successive overs, Miller and Steele then came together and added 139 runs in just 22 overs. This was an era when fast scoring was not unheard of, but even considering the opposition, scoring at over 6 runs per over for such a long time was a rarity, even in one day cricket.
Derbyshire’s total of 270-6 was their highest to date in one day cricket and at 13-3, then 37-7, Suffolk were never going to challenge it.
When Hendrick and Tunnicliffe were relieved after the first 12 overs of the Suffolk reply, the hosts were 10-2 – Hendrick 6-2-7-0, Tunnicliffe 6-5-3-2, and at tea, they were 26-4 off 25 overs.
Miller and Wood combined to take 4-42 between them off 24 overs, before Steele (two) and Barnett (one) closed the game out, Suffolk ending on 99 all out to give Derbyshire a satisfying 171-run victory. They have only recorded four bigger wins by runs in limited overs games – against Cornwall, Combined Universities, Derbyshire Cricket Board and Kent Cricket Board.
David Steele won the Man of the Match award for his 89 not out off 90 deliveries plus his two late wickets.
Just eleven days later and Derbyshire were on the road again, although in between the Suffolk game and the second round match at Worcester they had to fit in two championship games at Portsmouth and Taunton as well as a John Player League game at the latter venue.
Miller won the toss at New Road with an unchanged side and at lunch it was difficult to say who had taken the opening session honours – Worcestershire 128 for 4 off 37 overs – although their champion batsman, the prolific New Zealand opener, Glenn Turner went for 59 just before the interval when Kirsten caught him off Miller at square leg.
Colin Tunnicliffe, not for the only time in the 1981 campaign, came to the fore towards the end of the innings, ending with 5-50 off 12 overs, but taking 5-15 in his last five overs including a hat trick. His last four wickets came in 12 deliveries.
When the tea interval came after 25 overs, Derbyshire’s reply stood at 90-1 and victory seemed a formality. However, less than 60 runs came from the ensuing 18 overs as Wright, Steele and Miller all fell and when bad light and rain curtailed play for the day, Kirsten 49 not out and Hill 18 not out, were the main hopes for victory.
Hill was dismissed early on the second day, but Kirsten stayed to make 84 not out with support from the young Barnett who made 26. Bob Taylor, hardly renowned for big hitting, struck three fours and Kirsten sealed the game with another boundary as Derbyshire reached the quarter final with a win by four wickets and 10 balls to spare.
Kirsten won the Man of the Match award for his undefeated 84.
The quarter final at Derby on 5 August attracted over 6,000 spectators to see Derbyshire take on Nottinghamshire. The two sides had met at this stage of the Gillette Cup at Trent Bridge in 1975 when Derbyshire won comfortably, and the home side were eager to repeat that performance. However, Barry Wood captained the side in Miller’s absence, the regular captain suffering from ‘flu, while Hendrick was also unavailable due to a leg injury.
Paul Newman came into the side for Hendrick and Tony Borrington, in what would be his final game for the county, returned to replace Miller.
Wood elected to bat first and fell to Clive Rice for just five before Kirsten and Wright took the score to 75. At 100-2 Derbyshire looked to be in a strong position but wickets fell cheaply before Barnett , with support from Taylor scored 29 not out in almost an hour and a half. 164 all out off 59 overs seemed too few and many home supporters in the crowd sensed a likely defeat at the halfway point.
Nottinghamshire replied with relative ease, taking few chances against a pacy Neman and were 75-1 off 25 overs at tea.
After the interval, however, the visitors lost four wickets for the addition of only six runs, Randall, Hassan, Rice and Birch all falling to the accuracy of Newman, Wood and Steele. The roar which erupted when Rice was clean bowled by Steele for a duck could probably have been heard in Nottingham.
Steele, who produced remarkably effective figures of 2-23 from 12 overs, was nonetheless struck for four, four and six by Richard Hadlee before the New Zealand all-rounder drove at one from Oldham and was caught at slip.
That signalled the end of the Nottinghamshire challenge – they had lost nine wickets for 66 runs and the last four for only 13.
Paul Todd, for his 62, won the Man of the Match award but Derbyshire won the match by 23 runs and could look forward to listening to the draw for the semi-finals.
Essex came out of the hat with the game scheduled to be played at Derby on 19 August.
The two sides had met 15 times in one day cricket up to this point with Derbyshire winning just four games and losing comfortably by 32 runs at Chelmsford in a John Player League match 17 days earlier.
Hendrick and Miller returned, and Newman stayed in the side with Oldham and Borrington omitted.
By this time, Wood had taken over the captaincy from Miller on a permanent basis and after winning the toss was happy to give his bowlers the first use of a green pitch in cool, cloudy conditions.
An even larger crowd than the one for the quarter final was expectant as Hendrick and Tunnicliffe attacked with a plethora of close fielders. They were helped by the regular breaks for rain which allowed Wood to keep his quick bowlers fresh and they rewarded him handsomely; Hendrick 2-21 off 12 overs, Tunnicliffe 2-20 off 12 overs and Newman 3-26 off 12 overs. The captain’s own 12 overs yielded just 24 runs and although Steele was relatively expensive – nine overs for 35 runs, Miller took 2-16 in only 3 overs and the Essex all-out total of 149 was considered well below par.
Norbert Phillip top scored with 42 while Bob Taylor – five catches and one stumping – became the first wicketkeeper to claim 6 victims in a Gillette/NatWest game.
The light was awful when Derbyshire’s reply began although Wood had appealed to umpires Oslear and Evans to suspend play even as Hill and Wright were making their way out to bat.
Derbyshire’s start was as bad as the light; 13-2 at stumps with Kirsten and Wright – and much hope – already gone. The conditions were scarcely better on the second day and Derbyshire were again in more trouble – 30-4 with Steele and Miller out cheaply.
For the first time, but certainly not the last, Kim Barnett produced a match-winning innings. Batting at six, he scored 59 in over two and a half hours of watchful defence combined with attractive and dynamic stroke play.
Nonetheless, Derbyshire needed 11 to win off the final over, knowing that 10 would be enough providing they lost no more than nine wickets.
The final over took forever to bowl with fielding positions being changed constantly, as Essex skipper Keith Fletcher utilised all his experience backed by John Lever, Graham Gooch, Ken McEwan and Derek Pringle.
Norbert Phillip bowled the final over with Newman and Taylor at the crease. Taylor managed three off the first two balls, and then both scored singles. Newman was on strike and struck a powerful boundary to mid-wicket off the fifth ball of the over – one to win.
Newman dabbed at that last ball and set off, as did Taylor. Brian Hardie took up a position at the non-striker’s end, awaiting Phillip’s return after the bowler had set off in short pursuit of the ball.
Had Phillip under armed the ball to Hardie, it’s likely that Essex would have won. Instead, however, the bowler took aim at the stumps, threw, and missed everything and everybody.
The crowd – virtually all of them it seemed – invaded the pitch and the batsmen were carried from the field. This was before the pavilion had been built and the players still changed in the former Jockey’s Quarters. The gathering point was therefore on the grassed area now occupied by the Pavilion with supporters chanting, hugging, shouting, and asking when final tickets would be on sale.
Interestingly, had Derbyshire been dismissed for 149 – scores level – the countback would have seen Essex go through to Lord’s as they had scored 65 runs off their first 30 overs with Derbyshire scoring just 55.
Rose-tinted spectacles often distort figures, but Derbyshire reckoned they sold out their ticket allocation of just over 4,000, and it certainly seemed that the vast majority of the Derbyshire following had tickets for the Lord’s Tavern.
After largely poor weather through the preceding rounds, the conditions at Lord’s on Saturday fifth September were perfect for cricket as Derbyshire took on Northamptonshire in the inaugural NatWest Trophy Final.
Tunnicliffe, happily opening the bowling having missed the 1978 Benson and Hedges Final three years earlier, was expensive, 23 coming from his first three overs and at 99 for no wicket, Northamptonshire were in control with the experienced pair of Geoff Cook and Wayne Larkins enjoying the occasion.
When lunch arrived the score was 133-1 after Larkins was dismissed courtesy of a superb running catch by Miller off Wood. Allan Lamb was then run out – Miller again in the action with a great direct hit – and from 168-2 the Northamptonshire innings drifted slightly as they ended on 235-9 with six wickets falling in the last eight overs for only 31 runs.
Tunnicliffe returned for a better second spell, conceding just 27 from his final nine overs, while Hendrick took 2-24 from his 12 overs as Wood and Newman took a wicket apiece while conceding just three runs per over.
Derbyshire had only once scored more than 200 runs batting second to win a one day game against another first-class county, and to win the game, they would have to make their highest ever score batting second as they chased 236 for victory.
Caution was the watchword as Hill and Wright began slowly, Hill falling to Mallender with the score on 41.
Derbyshire supporters had become accustomed to watching Kirsten and Wright batting together; their names had become synonymous with modern-day greatness as those of Jackson and Gladwin had to an earlier generation.
On this occasion they combined to add 123 for the second wicket, but it was nail-biting because the pace appeared a little slow, indeed the team score at tea – 67-1 off 25 overs meant that Derbyshire required a further 169 to win off 35 overs at almost five an over. That rate is meat and drink to contemporary players, but difficult then and with the light fading after the interval.
At 164-1, though, Derbyshire were well set and favourites. All it now required was a spurt from this classy pair of overseas players, and the trophy was won.
One over later, both were out, and the score was 165-3.
Wood, Steele and Barnett came and went, and 47 runs were still needed from 7 overs with Geoff Miller and Colin Tunnicliffe at the crease.
Tunnicliffe struck the Pakistani fast bowler Sarfraz for two fours and both batsmen raced up and down the pitch as frantic field placings were made by Geoff Cook and consultations were conducted with the umpires. Having won the semi-final by virtue of losing fewer wickets with the scores level, Derbyshire knew precisely what they needed to do. Northamptonshire lost 9 wickets in making 235, Derbyshire had only lost six.
Griffiths bowled that final delivery to Tunnicliffe as Miller set off from the bowler’s end.
To this day, Tunnicliffe swears he hit the ball although it went down as a leg bye as Miller raced through to complete the run with stumps, bails, dust and players everywhere.
The PA announcement requesting spectators stay off the field was ignored as supporters of both sides raced onto the outfield with fans from either side not knowing which team had won, such was the confusion. In the middle, however, there was no confusion as the two Derbyshire-born players, Miller and Tunnicliffe hugged each other in jubilation.
It had been 45 years since Derbyshire had won their only other trophy – the 1936 County Championship – and only one other Lord’s final win would ever come Derbyshire’s way, in 1993, and a night of celebration ensued, although in a sign of those times, the day after the final Derbyshire played Sussex at Hove in the John Player League and lost by five wickets.
Almost 40 years have passed since that glorious day in London, and one can never wax lyrical too often about those 11 players and their triumph and what it meant to the team, their followers and the club.
There were 8 current or future Test cricketers in that victorious side, Barnett, Hendrick, Kirsten, Miller, Steele, Taylor, Wood and Wright, and as Alan Hill commented to this writer a year or two ago, “…eight Test cricketers, plus me, Tunners and Judge (Newman)…us three couldn’t have been that bad, could we?…”
To a generation of Derbyshire supporters, they weren’t bad, they were great.
Derbyshire County Cricket Club celebrates its historic 150-year Anniversary in 2020 and you can be part of a full summer of cricket with Club Membership. Packages on sale now from £189.
