Just watching this on BBC 2 and reminded me we watched Warwickshire that day against Nottinghamshire at Griff and Coton in Nuneaton.
I specifically remember Derek Randall fielding by us and asking a bloke with headphones on what the test score was and he didn’t know. Randall then said what are you listening to Bob Geldof!
Anyway here’s the scorecard and what great players played in Nuneaton in front of a big crowd that day:
https://www.cricketarchive.com/Nottinghamshire/Scorecards/46/46204.html
That is an interesting card. I was first involved in cricket in 1992/93 and there are a lot of players in their heyday on this card who retired when I started watching. Didn't know Adrian Pierson played for us, he was prominent for Leicestershire in one of the first cc games I watched at Edgbaston.
There were some big stars in that game on both sides - Dennis Amiss, Richard Hadlee, Alvin Kallicharran, Clive Rice, Derek Randall etc. There were also a few also-rans that would struggle to get into the Bears side today - Robin Ian Henry Benbow Dyer, to name but five, plus Dean Hoffman and, on the Notts side, Callum Fraser-Darling
I can't believe that Derek Randall bowled and got the wickets of Kallicharran, Amiss & Smith - a real feather in the cap for Arkle!
It was wonderful cricket. I missed the test players playing county cricket, the big crowds at Nuneaton and the beer tents and ice cream vans. So different to the anaemic stuff we get now!
I think that Derek Randall's wickets represent one of the less acceptable features of three day cricket when captains would conspire to set up a finish by putting on "joke" bowlers to let batters get easy runs before a declaration and a target. That is undoubtedly what happened in this case - Randall bowled 13 overs for 103 runs and in the process took three wickets as the batters went for quick runs. In the event, it was all in vain as the match petered out into a draw.
Not sure it petered out. We were three wickets short with Rice retired hurt and there was an exciting finish set up for a sizable crowd in contrast to the bore draws we have seen in front of v few at Edgbaston this season!
I was relying on what Wisden said. And as for crowds, I think as a ground Griff and Coton did ok. The highest crowd was 6,000 for a john Player game.
GerryShedd wrote:
I was relying on what Wisden said. And as for crowds, I think as a ground Griff and Coton did ok. The highest crowd was 6,000 for a john Player game.
They used to publish the attendances in the yearbook and it was usually the highest for Warwickshire in the championship,
Only rarely given Sunday games unfortunately. I do remember Hampshire I think.